


Sonic: Resistance

by Mr_Meme



Series: Resistance [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Humor, Angst and Tragedy, Attempted Prison Break, Biplane Engine Repair, Breaking and Entering, Crash Landing, Don't worry, Double Boosting, Fluff and Angst, Forces rewrite, Gen, Implied/Referenced Death, Implied/Referenced Genocide, Implied/Referenced Religion, Implied/Referenced Torture, Medium Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sonic Forces, Space Flight, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, Yes Really, they're breaking into one of Eggman's bases
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:45:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 55,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mr_Meme/pseuds/Mr_Meme
Summary: Following countless defeats at the hands of Sonic and his friends. Doctor Eggman used his pent up hatred and anger to create his greatest weapon yet. While at the same time Sonic is doing what he always does when Eggman isn't causing trouble, running. But unknown to most of the world, a darkness brews just beyond their sight and right underneath their noses. Something is coming. And it will bring the darkest of days. It is a dangerous weapon, the sharpest of blades, and it is determined to cut Sonic and the world down in a second. Leaving no one left to carry on, so that it may turn the world to ash and fire.





	1. The Empire From a Lost Valley

### The Empire From a Lost Valley

###### November 5th, 2016, 2:12 A.M. South Island, an unknown facility in Green Hill Zone.

It was early in the morning, and any sane person would be asleep, but Eggman isn't sane. He hasn't ever been sane so he could freely do things like this, he walked through the halls of his secret facility, and he was filled with a mixture of joy and excitement as he headed for a room called the "Stasis Room" he entered said room which was filled with tube after tube of blue liquid, the tube also had wires swirling around inside of them and they pulsated a green glow showing that the blue liquid was being exposed to Chaos Energy, he began to walk towards the end of the room "Sonic, how I hate him."

Orbot rolled his mechanical eyes as Eggman continued to walk through the room, Orbot knew that Eggman always took at least one to two hours out of his day to just sit around and complain about Sonic and the doctor's failures so the robotic assistant simply ignored his master while his clumsy counterpart, Cubot, scrubbed one of the tubes. Eggman reached the back of the room and stared at a monitor showing readings from his most prized creation since Metal Sonic "And all of that loathing has been focused into this invincible instrument of destruction."

As he finished he motioned to the tube that Cubot was whipping down, he then looked at his hand and began to clench it into a fist, he imagined his hand crushing Sonic's head "Every defeat, every humiliation at the Hedgehog's hands will be returned a thousandfold by my unstoppable creation!"

He then walked over to the tube and violently shoved Cubot out of the way. He stared into the tube and at the creature stored inside of it, but he was specifically staring at the gem stone attached to the creature's chest "This is my dream come true! With this invention I can expand the Eggman Empire across the globe and conquer the world!"

He then turned away from the tube and began to laugh maniacally. Orbot, who had been hiding behind a monitor to try and ignore Eggman peeked his head out from behind it and stared at Cubot, who had fallen on top of the monitor "The boss means business this time!"

Cubot nodded "Uh huh."

He probably would've said something else if the creature in the tube hadn't looked at Orbot and Cubot which effectively shut the both of them up immediately.

###### November 7th, 2016 4:35 P.M. South Island, Green Hill Zone.

Sonic the Hedgehog sped through the lush hills of Green Hill, his feet pittered and pattered across the checkerboard stone path way that lead Sonic through the valley. He loved that sound, he loved the smell of the grass, he loved the heat that radiated around him, it was the perfect weather for running, and nostalgia also filled his soul due to the fact that him and his parents once lived in the Zone when he was younger, as he ran the communicator that Tails had made him a few weeks ago turned on "Sonic! Eggman's forces are surging into the city! We need you here, now!"

Sonic smiled with the promise of adventure and action "Hold one Tails! I'm on my way!"

He then boosted off at his top speeds heading for the city named Green Hill City, yeah sure it isn't the most original name in the world, but the concept of the town was pretty new, it's the only city on South Island that isn't protected by G.U.N. and it's apart of the smallest country Sonic's ever been to, the South Island Republic. Sonic reached a large gap in the ground and quickly jumped across it, as he flew through the air he saw that the ground below didn't have a bright blue river, instead there was nothing but sand "That's not good."

He then touched down on the other side of the large gap and continued on wards. As he ran a large group of Eggman robots came into view, the robots honestly looked like the Egg Pawns, except they were pure grey with red eyes and no mouth, Sonic grinned again "Heh, don't have time to lose. Better kick things up a notch!"

He then boosted into the new robots and destroyed them instantly, he continued running through the lush hills and eventually reached a steep upwards slope, he quickly jumped up into the air and he suddenly saw that instead of the beautiful rolling hills of the Zone, there was a massive desert, and sitting directly in front of him was a broken and destroyed loop, the grass that naturally grew on it had died and turned white, all the while the checkerboard stones of the loop was caked in sand so it too looked white, Sonic then homed in on the broken loop and jumped from chunk to chunk to get to the other side of the path.

As he jumped around a massive Sand Worm burst out of the desert. Sonic looked over to the worm in surprise "MAN! Look at the size of that thing!"

The former feeling of sadness and dread that had filled Sonic when he saw the massive desert was replaced with a spike of adrenaline as the Sand Worm burst out of the ground and burrowed back down into it, he then jumped off of the top of the loop before landing on the other side "Guess all kinds of of things show up when your former neighborhood turns into a desert."

He then returned to run and at the same time he sighed "Clean up's gonna be a chore."

Although that slight sadness was washed away by the green grass that he ran across, he wasn't sure how there was any green grass left on this side of the Zone but he wasn't complaining, he continued to run, boosting through any robots or obstacles that came in between him and his destination, Sonic then reached a drop and he quickly jumped down into the valley below, when he landed sand was kicked up into his face, he coughed and sneezed slightly before resuming his running, he took a quick look around his surroundings "There's sand everywhere!"

He quickly approached a tall cliff side and before he ram into it he quickly curled up into a Spin Ball and burrowed through the cliff. When he burst out of the other side he shook some pebbles out of his quills "Green Hill's looking a lot more like Sand Hill right now."

He's never seen Sand Hill before, he had only heard about it from Tails and it sounded like a cool place. But he was quickly snapped out of his thoughts when he slipped and fell down a cliff and a sand slide, he spun around in the air and landed on the ground bellow in a crouched stance, he grinned slightly before blasting off still heading for the city, he was finally reaching the end of the Zone and the beginning of the city when he saw wreckage of robotics and machinery scattered all over the place "Man, this place is a wreck.. Thanks Eggman one of my favorite spots is all ruined."

But Sonic continued forwards, he ran across a broken wooden bridge that he could only reach because it was resting on various naturally forming rock pillars, and once he reached the end of the bridge he could see the tops of Green Hill City's roofs in the distance "This is it for Green Hill, so the city must be close."

He then began to rocket off at his top speed as a Sand Worm burst out of the ground and leaped over him "Let's get ready for some action!"

He then clenched his fists together and hit his top speeds instantly and in the process he broke the sound barrier which caused the Sand Worm to burrow away in fear.

###### 4:37 P.M. South Island Republic, Green Hill City.

Tails was chased into an alley by four of Eggman's latest robots, but the robots actually weren't chasing him, that's just what he needed them to think. Once the four robots entered the alley and began to run over to Tails the young fox quickly spun around and caused a large gust of wind to crash into the robots, the wind sent them flying and when they crashed into a building several feet away Tails ran out of the alley and started to head towards a part of the city he had yet to check, he had to get the citizens of the city out of there before Sonic arrived, sure Sonic wouldn't hurt any of them, but he didn't really have the best track record when it came to keeping a battle contained.

Tails reached a square that would've normally been used for shopping or eating, but right now it was filled with robots who were threatening to attack a group of citizens, Tails reached the group and he stood in between them and the robots "You dumb bots are gonna have to go through me first before you lay a finger on any of the city's citizens!"

Suddenly the voice of Eggman called out "That's fine by me."

And the mad doctor floated down in his Egg Mobile. Tails glared at Eggman "You're not going to win this!"

The doctor chuckled "Ah, childlike optimism, how I miss it."

He then shook his head "But no, I will win this.. Take a look around you! The city is decimated!"

Eggman was right. There was rubble and debris littered everywhere, people were fleeing in terror, and there was a fire around every turn, that coupled with the setting sun made it look as if the world had been plunged into an apocalypse, Tails shook his head breaking free from his thoughts "No! Sonic's going to save the day! We're all going to save the day!"

Eggman reclined in the Egg Mobile's seat "Very well... Take them out."

The robots then began to stomp forwards and Eggman sat there watching his excitement growing more and more. The robots got closer to Tails, who could've taken down the robots himself, but then he'd risk leaving the citizens behind him vulnerable, when suddenly a blue blur jumped off of the top of a roof and collided with the robot to Tails' left, the blur then zipped around quickly and effortlessly taking out every robot, it finally reached the last robot, the blur jumped up into the air and came crashing down on top of the bot's head, the blur stopped and Sonic stepped out of it "Is everyone okay?"

Tails nodded "We are, thanks to you.. Cutting it a little close though pal."

Sonic shrugged as the citizens behind Tails cheered for him "Yeah, that's pretty much how I roll."

He then turned to his side and faced Eggman, who was literally sitting on the edge of his seat "Okay, let's finish this Eggman!"

He pointed to the doctor a cocky and confident grin on his face. Eggman returned Sonic's point "It will be your finish Sonic. Behold the power of my ultimate masterpiece!"

Eggman then began to cackle evilly. Sonic jumped up to the doctor and attempted to take out his hovercraft, when suddenly Sonic was knocked out of the air by something fast, he landed on the ground and skidded across it in a crouched stance, Tails meanwhile was pointing the citizens in the direction of safety when Sonic looked up to what had hit him and he saw that crouched down in a similar stance to Sonic was "Shadow?! It's you!?"

The black and red Hedgehog simply stood up right and silently folded his arms over his chest, suddenly a red monster landed next to Shadow, it was the hideous and spiky "Zavok!?"

The leader of the Deadly Six and one of the most powerful Zeti ever, Sonic then heard a sound he knew all to well and a blue robot fell from the sky and landed on Shadow's other side, it was none other then "Metal?!"

Eggman's most powerful and disobedient creations yet, the ground next to Metal Sonic began to crack and water spewed out of it, said water then began to form into a long thought defeated creature known as "Chaos?!"

Sonic was surprised to see all of these enemies all together at once, especially Shadow the never-turning-back-now-hog, Zavok the I-literally-took-over-your-army-Zeti, and Chaos the former God of Destruction turned peaceful. As Sonic stood upright a mysterious figure floated down from the sky, it was rather tall when compared to Sonic, it had black fur, a big bushy tail with a white tip, it wore unique and standout shoes and gloves, as well as a silver colored metal mask that's left eye lens was tinted red while the right was pitch black, it also had white dreadlocks coming out of the back of its head, and it was surrounded by a red aura.

When the figure landed on the ground Sonic quickly flicked his nose before charging towards the figure, now that it was out of the way he could... Wait, Sonic hadn't hit anything he quickly looked over his shoulder to see that the figure had stepped out of Sonic's way and it was flying up into the air, as that happened Tails silently said to himself "Whoa! This guy's faster then Sonic!"

The figure then held out his hand and a red energy shot fired out of the front of his hand at Sonic, the hedgehog dodged it by jumping up into the air and attempting to Homing Attack the figure but it glided out of his way and quickly spun around to kick Sonic up into the air, it then flew up and met Sonic higher up in the air before spinning around again to kick the Hedgehog yet again, except this time he was flung into the side of a building. As Sonic and the rubble of the building fell to the ground Tails realized something "No, wait! It's something else. Gotta scan him and figure this out."

He then pulled out his Miles Electric to try and scan the new figure, but before he could Chaos flung its arm at Tails and it stretched out at him, the arm then grabbed the pad and it retracted back to Chaos, the water monster then filed the pad with water while Eggman said "Now, now Tails. We don't want to spoil the fun of my little creation's mystery."

As that happened Sonic picked himself up off of the ground and the figure fired more energy shots at the hedgehog. At the same time Zavok ran towards him and the Hedgehog ducked under the incoming Zeti punch before quickly kicking the monster in its face, once Zavok fell to the ground Sonic attempted to jump into the air to attack the figure that has been harassing Sonic with energy shots, but the figure dodged Sonic's Homing Attack and Metal Sonic suddenly flew towards its organic counterpart, it was spinning its arms around to try and cut Sonic in any way but the Hedgehog was able to dodge the attack by quickly stomping down onto the ground.

Sonic then pushed himself up off of the ground and into the air in an attempt to attack the mysterious figure but sadly the figure dodged Sonic. The Hedgehog then landed on a roof and suddenly Chaos leaped up there to attack him, Sonic blocked Chaos's attack with his arms as he looked around in complete confusion and surprise "What are you?- How are you doing?-"

The figure then appeared behind Sonic and kicked him across the square, as that happened Eggman smiled "Nice."

And Sonic began to pick himself up off of the ground "Tails! I need to know what's going on with this guy!"

Tails looked around in confusion and a slight twinge of fear "I- I can't! Chaos ruined my pad!"

The figure then tried to kick Sonic but he was able to dodge that attack, the figure then quickly spun around in the air again and kicked Sonic into another wall, before Sonic and the rubble could even fall to the ground the figure zipped over to Sonic and kicked him up into the air, as he began to fall down to the ground the figure fired an energy shot at Sonic's back and that small blast boosted him up into the air, Shadow then jumped up and kicked Sonic which sent him higher up into the air, Zavok also jumped up into the air and slammed both his fists down onto Sonic which sent him spiraling down towards the ground, while he was being juggled around in the air Sonic was able to yell out "Running out of time here Tails!"

But right as he finished Chaos uppercut Sonic which sent him flying towards Metal Sonic who then hit Sonic towards the figure who then kicked Sonic into the ground, Sonic struggled to pick himself up off of the ground this time, his entire body already felt sore, he was out of breath, he could taste a slight twinge of blood in his mouth, he groaned as he attempted to pick himself up but he couldn't. Sonic collapsed onto the ground and he could faintly hear Tails yell out "SONIC!"

The last thing the Hedgehog saw before closing his eyes was the shoes of the figure that had just kicked his butt majorly. Tails was filled with anger and fear, he picked up a rock and chunk it at the figure, it moved its head slightly to dodge the attack it then stretched its hand out to blast tails with an energy shot when Eggman stopped it by saying "No, let him live.. He'll run back home to his friends and tell them about what we've accomplished here."

The figure the lowered its hand before Zavok stomped over to Tails, he then stood over the young fox and roared at him which finally caused Tails to be filled with fear. Without thinking it through he turn and ran from his friend, Eggman cackle loudly "Hohohohoh!.. Grab Sonic and let's get moving, we don't want to be here when the Egg Titans arrive."

The five others who had just bested Sonic began to fight with each other over who should scope up the motionless Hedgehog, Eggman groaned as he finally snapped at them "I don't care who grabs him! Just do it!"

The figure then reached its hand out and Sonic's body levitated up off of the ground Eggman sighed "Finally... Come now, the world needs its glorious leader to make a grand appearance!"

Eggman then led the other five out of the square in his Egg Mobile, at the same time massive robots that resembled the Death Egg Robot arrived in the city to finish off any major resistance from the South Island Republic's military.

**_With Sonic out of the way, Eggman's army was able to focus its entire efforts on destroying the renaming Republic soldiers. That effort was only assisted by G.U.N. when they decided to try and intervene in the battle, sadly the robots that made up G.U.N.'s front lines were mistaken for Eggman's own robots so the Republic attacked those as well as Eggman's army._**

__

__

_**Without Shadow, Team Dark was ineffective against Eggman's army, E-123 Omega went missing in battle, and Rouge the Bat also disappeared, but, unlike Omega Rouge was presumed K.I.A. by both Republic and G.U.N. armies. Chaos was able to effectively destroy G.U.N.'s warships and submarines which crippled their marine soldiers, Zavok was able to go head to head with five battalions of Republic and G.U.N. soldiers as well as two tanks.**_

__

**_Metal Sonic was able to override the G.U.N. robots' A.I. and turn them against their fellow soldiers, Shadow operated in the darkness, he quickly and effectively took out any soldiers disconnected from their chain of command or that had wandered to far from the battlefield. And anyone that crossed paths with the figure that had almost single handedly taken out Sonic died or went missing._**

__

**_Within seven hours of Sonic's defeat the citizens of the Republic were forced to take up arms just to defend themselves from Eggman's army. Meanwhile the Empire began to slowly attack more and more cities around the world which only forced G.U.N. to stretch themselves out thin even more, eleven hours after Sonic's defeat and the Empire was able to finally conquer the Republic and to also destroy the G.U.N. soldiers still stuck on South Island._**

__

**_A week after that and the world fell apart, the United Federations collapsed and Eggman walked in to conquer the remains, Chun-Nun willingly handed themselves over to the Empire, and the rest of the world either fought back and failed, willingly joined the mad doctor's Empire, or they collapsed due to the chaos of the world's state and Eggman just scooped up the remains. Over the next year Eggman allowed the figure to commit genocide on various groups and cultures situated around the world, the largest of his genocides was on the native Chipmunks and Squirrels of South and West Side Island._**

__

_**The world has fall, Eggman has won, the only hope left in the world is a ragtag group of guerrilla fighters called the "Resistance" lead by Knuckles the Echidna they work to try and take down the doctor's newly crafted Empire. Hope is beginning to slowly leave the rebel group, but, a new comer is about to be set on the path of joining the ranks of the Resistance, maybe they can bring hope back into the Resistance. Maybe, they'll be the tide that changes the current of war.**_  



	2. Crimson Fugitive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Sonic presumed dead, Green Hill City has been turned into a war zone. But the Resistance is trying desperately to evacuate as many people out of the city and to somewhere far away as quickly as possible. One such evacuation process was going smoothly, until something arrived and caused mass havok. Forcing a red furred fugitive to flee from the truck he had once been aboard. And towards his true calling.

### Crimson Fugitive

###### October 2nd, 2017, a year after Sonic's defeat, 11:56 P.M. South Island, South Island Republic, the ruins of Green Hill City.

A lone red Wolf ran through the deserted and demolished streets of the city, the only things that illuminated his path were the still raging fires, and the light of the moon. The only things he had on were a pair of wore out orange sneakers, and white gloves covered in dirt and ash from the destruction that laid around him, and a pair of white glasses that's plastic frame was damaged from the continues war all around him, despite the fact that Eggman and his empire had already clearly won, a group of people going by the name the "Resistance" still fought to take down the doctor and his empire, sadly all of that fighting meant that the city still had yet to recover from the damage of Eggman's initial conquest. Eventually the Wolf reached an alley where a yellow Bird motioned for the Wolf to come over "Hey! Hey! Come on!"

The Bird's whispers almost weren't heard by the Wolf due to just how quite he was, the Wolf ran over to the Bird and he said "You sure you're ready for this?"

The Bird's feathers were mostly yellow but they also had red areas on him that made it seem as if he had a decal of fire on his front side that raised up from his legs and up to the tops of his beak, the Bird also wore red sneakers similar to the Wolf's, and the Bird also had gauze that wrapped around his hands and forearms. The Wolf nodded "Y- Yeah, I'm sure."

The Bird also nodded "Alright let's go."

The Bird then led the Wolf out of the alley and over to an empty road. Except sitting in the road there was a covered truck that had several other people sitting in the back of it, all of them had a similar look of stress and fear on their faces, the Bird then ran over to the driver side door "Okay that's all of them, let's get out of her."

The driver nodded as the Wolf climbed into the back of the truck right as he heard the engine turn on. It sent a sense of relief over everyone in the truck as it began to drive down the road and out of the city, the Wolf couldn't believe it, he was actually able to smuggle himself out of the city, he was able to escape Eggman and his forces, in fact, everyone in the truck was also just as surprised and relived as the Wolf, just then everyone heard the sound of one of the tires suddenly popping. The truck came to a stop and almost tipped over before the driver and the Bird got out of the front of the truck, they ran over to the right side of the truck and saw that the tire had mysteriously popped by itself, they even checked over to the same path that they had just driven down and saw that there wasn't anything there that could've popped the tire, just then the Wolf heard a strange noise and he struggled to look out over the sea of heads in front of him and over to the sound.

But the driver and the Bird could see where the sound had come from. They spun around quickly and saw that a masked Jackal floated down from the air, the Jackal hovered a foot or two over the ground "What have I found here? A group of spineless stragglers seeking to flee this city."

The Bird quickly opened up the driver side door and pulled out a blaster, he aimed it at the Jackal and fired at him, but the Jackal raised his hand up and blocked the shot with it "How amusing.."

Then the driver quickly pulled another blaster out of his pocket and also began to fire at the Jackal along side the Bird. But the Jackal just blocked the shots over and over again "There is no reason to resist. Your savior is no more."

One of the persons in the truck looked over to the rest of the passengers in the back with him "We have to help."

One of them nodded "Yeah, let's go."

Then suddenly several people began to open up small crates in the back of the truck and pulled out blasters. They then handed out the blasters to everyone in the truck, the Wolf included, before they all poured out of the back of the truck and began to fire at the Jackal, which surprised him slightly, but he quickly floated high up into the air before firing a laser at the truck's engine which caused it to explode and sent the fighters running around in a panic, the Wolf almost fell over as the truck exploded and dropped his blaster, the Jackal looked over the group of people scrambling around to both find cover and also try and shoot him at the same time. The Jackal shook his head in a fake sense of sadness "Like I already said before.. There is no reason to resist.. Your savior.. IS. NO. MORE!"

He the held out his hand and a laser blasted out of his palm. He mowed down a majority of the people trying to fight him and the Wolf watched in horror as people dropped dead all around him, he scrambled over to a chunk of still standing wall from a long since destroyed building, the Wolf hid behind the wall and dropped the blaster down on the ground next to him, he put his head in his hands and began to panic to himself as the Jackal blocked another energy shot before returning fire and killing the person that had fired it. The Jackal then destroyed the cover that the yellow Bird was hiding behind which forced him to run over to the same chunk of wall that the Wolf was hiding behind, as he ran over to the wall the Jackal held his hand out towards the Bird and blasted him with a laser, it pierced through his chest and the Bird fell to the ground motionless, the Wolf looked over to the dead Bird and then over the blaster sitting on the ground next to him, he's the only one left, he's going to have to defend himself, so the Wolf stood up slightly to pick up the blaster but it was just slightly out of his reach.

The Jackal looked over to the Wolf "I can taste your terror child."

When the Jackal suddenly addressed the Wolf it caused the red canine to look over to the floating Jackal in fear. The Wolf probed his hand around to try and grab onto the blaster that was just barely out of his reach, the Jackal stared down at the Wolf with his one red tinted eye "All that anxiety, and doubt..."

The Wolf finally picked up the blaster and aimed it at the Jackal, he struggled to hold the blaster up due to his just how much his hand was shaking out of fear so the Wolf raised his other hand up to stabilize the hand holding onto the blaster's handle, the Wolf hesitantly put his finger on the trigger and he closed his eyes not wanting to be in this situation anymore, the Jackal chuckled "It's delicious."

He then held his hand out again and fired an energy shot at the ground in front of the Wolf. When the energy shot hit the ground there was a small explosion which was just large enough to scare the Wolf and cause him to stumble backwards and fall down onto his bottom dropping the blaster at the same time, the Jackal then lowered his hand "Give into your fear. Flee, screaming, and I'll let you live."

While the Jackal talked the Wolf looked over to the blaster sitting a few inches away from him contemplating the option of attacking the Jackal, but he couldn't, instead the Wolf stood up and bolted away from the Jackal, he ran back into the city as the Jackal began to laugh sadistically while he watched the Wolf run away in terror.

###### November 3rd, 12:22 P.M. Ruins of Green Hill City.

Vector the Crocodile ran through the streets of the city, Buzz Bombers flew over head and fired at him as the Crocodile ran. Vector was barely able to avoid some of the Bombers' fire due to his large size, he quickly ducked down and picked up a large rock, he spun around and threw the rock at the closest Bomber, once the rock smash into the Bomber's head it exploded which allowed Vector to get ahead of the other seven Bombers that were still chasing him, Vector hated going out on solo missions for the Resistance, each time he did he'd somehow draw attention to himself and he'd have to run back to the headquarters while also trying to not be killed by Eggman's mechanized army.

Vector's eyes quickly darted around as he tried to find some way to quickly finish off all of the Bombers at once, luckily he saw a dead end alley narrow enough that the Bombers would have to get into one straight line, Vector quickly turned and ran towards the alley, the Bombers followed, once Vector reached the end of the alley he quickly glanced over his shoulder and saw that the Bombers were all in one narrow line, he then jumped up onto the wall in front of him and kicked off of it heading straight towards the lead Bomber.

He grabbed onto the Bomber with his left hand and with his right hand he grabbed onto the Bomber behind it. Vector then used the two flying robots to launch himself higher up into the air, with the two robots still in hand, once Vector was high up he smashed the two bots together before falling down towards the rest of the Bombers who hadn't a clue what was going on, Vector bit down on the new lead Bomber and it exploded, but before it did explode Vector was able to swing off of it and he flew towards the reaming four Bombers, Vector then body slammed the last Bombers onto the ground and the victorious Vector stood up off of the ground brush the soot off of his chest from the explosion. As Vector began to make his way out of the alley he heard the sound of someone yelling out "Help! Someone! Please!"

It came from somewhere over to Vector's left, but before he could investigate it three redesigned Egg Pawns ran past the alley Vector was in, said Egg Pawns had spherical white-gray bodies with no heads, thin black limbs with red joints, and light gray visors on the front with two red eyes. They also had light gray feet with soles, and armored light gray forearms with no hands, although they had a cannon on their right arm. Vector watched as they turned a corner and ran towards the person that had just yelled for help. Vector quickly clenched his fists before running off towards the person as well, and once he turned the same corner the Egg Pawns had just turned he saw that there were at least ten of them surrounding a red Wolf, Vector took a good attacking stance "Hey! Egg ro-butts!"

Three of the closest Egg Pawns turned their heads and stared at Vector before they turned around and began to stomp towards him, the Crocodile grinned slightly before charging towards the robots. He stretched his arms out and slammed into the three that had just attempted to stomp towards him, he body slammed those robots into the ground before quickly jumping up off of the ground and turning around to face the rest of the robots, Vector looked over his shoulder to the scared Wolf "Hey kid, you know how to get to downtown?"

The Wolf nodded his head "Good, run over there and once you reach that old book store.. You'll know what to do."

The Wolf nodded before getting up off of the ground and running away from both Vector and the robots, Vector then looked back over to the Egg Pawns "So.. Who wants to get a beating first?"

Vector then charged at the robots as they began to fire their arm cannons at him, sadly Vector would soon be overrun because more and more Egg Pawns as well as Buzz Bombers showed up to assist their fellow robots fight off Vector.

###### 12:27 P.M. Downtown Green Hill City Ruins.

The red Wolf silently made his way through the streets of the burning city, narrowly avoiding enemies at every turn. When he finally made it to the book store Vector had told him about, he went to open the book store's front doors but they wouldn't budge, the Wolf began to panic as he tried to find someplace to hide or some way to get in, he was out in the open, Eggman's robots would be able to find him, that Jackal, he could just as easily find the Wolf if he were out in the open, he had to hide. Just then he heard a rapid beeping sound come from the alley over to the left of the building, the Wolf walked over to the alley and looked in it to see that there was an old damaged lamp sitting in the corner of the alley, and that lamp was the one giving off that beeping sound, the Wolf walked over to the lamp carefully and once he reached the lamp he saw that there was a small red light flashing in tune with the beeping, the Wolf took the lamp's shade off and saw that it had a metal light bulb shaped device screwed into it where a real light bulb should've been, and the metal device had red lines all over it that glowed in tune with the beeping, the Wolf then saw that there was a button on the metal bulb that had a red glowing outline surrounding it, he then pressed the button and the bulb suddenly opened up.

Sitting inside of the bulb there was a strange looking key, the Wolf then hesitantly took the key out of the bulb before looking around the alley slightly confused. Just then a brick in the nearby building began to slide out of the wall it was in, once it was just barely hanging out of the wall the brick split open and revealed a key hole in it, the Wolf looked at the key in his hand and then at the brick's key hole, he then slide the key into the key hole and twisted the strange key, with a click the brick slid back into place and the open metal bulb then began to emit a deep metal hum that caused the key to slide out of the brick's key hole and back into the metal light bulb, once that strange series of events was done the section of wall next to where the brick/key hole began to change from a brick wall, and into a metal door, said door then slide open and the Wolf, not really knowing what else to do, walked through the open door.

The Wolf was startled slightly by the sound of the door sliding closed again and changing back into a regular looking brick wall, the actual inside of the building looked like an old office building, there were cubicles and desks everywhere, although those desks and cubicles were either damaged or destroyed from the war, but what caught the Wolf's eyes was that there was a freight elevator over on the wall to the Wolf's right, that had opened up when the door behind him had closed. The Wolf glanced around and saw that there was nowhere else to go but into that elevator. So he walked over to it and got in, the doors closed by themselves and the elevator lowered automatically, the Wolf had no clue where he was being taken, he didn't even really know who that Crocodile was other then the the fact he was named Vector, after a few almost silent minutes the elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open.

The Wolf silently walked out of the freight elevator and into a hallway that had stone floors and brick walls and roof, the hallway stretched three feet or so to the Wolf's right and at the far end of the hall there was a door that was open slightly, he could hear the faint sounds of people talking in the room that the open led to, the Wolf then began to silently walk down the hallway and towards the door, as he got closer to the door the voices coming from it got louder and the Wolf could hear a female say "Vector's been gone for too long.. We should send someone out to find him."

Then he could hear a male voice say "No, Vector's fine.. Trust me if he where in actual danger he'd have already contacted us."

The Wolf finally reached the door, but he didn't walk through it, instead he stopped next to the door and continued to listen to the voices. A different male voice that sounded like a child's voice then said "Espio's right! Besides, even if we needed to go help Vector, we kinda cant right now. Me and Espio aren't ready to head back out into the fight, and it's not safe for you to go out there alone Amy."

The Wolf was surprised to hear all of those names, was he- was he in the Resistance headquarters? The Wolf was about to peek around the corner of the door when someone suddenly put their hand on the Wolf's shoulder "Hey, what ya' doing?"

The Wolf almost jumped across the hall and to the other side of the door, but he didn't so instead he looked over his shoulder and at the person who had put their hand on the Wolf's shoulder. It was a white female Dog that had heterochromia eyes, the right eye was purple, and the left one was green, she also had a pair of googles placed on her head, a purple bandana with a large sharp toothed grin drawn on it wrapped around her neck, a light pink shirt that had three different colored stars on it, purple fingerless gloves, a black and pink checkered skirt, light pink pants, and purple boots that had black laces in it, the Dog also had three long bangs on her forehead that had its tips dyed the same color of purple as her gloves, bandana, skirt, and boots, the Dog took her hand off of the Wolf's shoulder "You gonna answer me?"

The Wolf's eyes darted around in confusion and slight fear before saying "Uh... I- I'm... Listening."

The Dog nodded "Alright... What's your name?"

The Wolf glanced over his shoulder quickly before saying "Maybe we should.. Go somewhere... Else?"

The Dog shrugged "Sure."

Before leading the Wolf over to a nearby door. She opened the door and led the Wolf into a room that had two bunk beds sitting in the two front corners of the room, there was also several military crates placed in the room. The Dog turned around and put her hands on her hips "So, that name of yours?"

The Wolf sat down on a nearby crate before saying "Uh.. My name is Dustin."

The Dog grinned slightly "Cool, my name's Matty."

Dustin also grinned slightly, it felt nice to talk to someone other than his reflection, he felt like he could relax, he felt as if he could actually let his guard down, which he was immediately punished for when a distorted voice suddenly said to him "What are you doing in here?"

The Wolf jumped up off of the crate and spun around in the air. The person where the voice had come from was a muscular female bear that wore black colored full body armor, there was also a black gas mask looking device placed on her maw, a pair of googles that had orange lenses in them were placed over her eyes, and a black army helmet sat on her head, the muscular bear crossed her arms over her chest still waiting for Dustin to answer "Uh.. I- I uh.. I don't actually know what I'm doing in here."

The bear then took of her googles and lower mask like piece off of her face which revealed that the bear had bright blue eyes "Then how'd you get in here?"

Matty suddenly spoke up "I let him in!"

The bear looked over to Matty "You let him into the base?!"

Matty shook her head "No. I let him into the living quarters, I found him in the base."

The bear shook her head before looking over to Dustin "Listen I don't know why you're here, or what you want but you gotta leave."

Dustin backed away from the bear "No I can't! I- I can't leave the city! I- I don't have anywhere to go! I- I can't hide! I- I-"

Suddenly the voice of Vector came from behind the bear "Hey kid! Come with me." Dustin then walked past the bear and followed Vector towards the door where those voices came from.


	3. The Hero From Beyond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Dustin Filbert Wolf was busy making his way through the Resistance's base in Green Hill City and encountering the main fighters of the Resistance, Tails was attempting to fix an old robotic friend of his. Sadly his progress, or lack there of, was quickly stopped when one of Eggman's generals arrived. But while that all went on, a Resistance spy gets their hands on important information and relays it to the base. Changing the war drastically.

### The Hero From Beyond

###### 12:33 P.M. Underneath the ruins of Green Hill City, Resistance Base.

Vector suddenly stopped next to the door he was taking Dustin to. He then looked over his shoulder to the red Wolf "Uh.. W- Wait here."

The Wolf nodded before Vector walked into the room where those voices had come from, everyone looked over to Vector as the door slid open, the Crocodile had cuts and bruises all over his body from the battles he'd taken part in, he shook his head and closed his eyes as he walked "Eggman's army is unstoppable!"

He then opened them and looked at his fellow Resistance fighters, there was a pink Hedgehog named Amy Rose that wore a short sleeveless red dress with white trims, tall red boots with a white cuff and stripe, white socks, a red hairband and white wrist-length gloves with gold cuffs, there was a purple Chameleon Named Espio that wore dark purple and black shoes with elaborate cuffs, white gloves with a purple back, and studded bands around his wrists and ankles, a young Bee named Charmy that wore an orange vest with a bee emblem on the left, white and orange shoes, white gloves cuffed with black rings, a black pilot's helmet with a red rim and flight goggles.

"Without Sonic, the people are losing hope and giving into despair."

Espio sighed "Despair is a luxury we don't have."

Amy put her hand on top of her chest in sadness as she said "I still dream that Sonic is with us."

She took her hand off of her chest as tears began to swell up in her eyes "Do you think that he might be-"

Vector sighed "I'm an optimist.. But I'm also a realist. Sonic is gone Amy, and Tails... He- He's still coping with the reality of things."

He sighed again this time trying to get rid of his own tears "If we're going to win we have to do it without them."

Espio nodded "Vector's right."

He then put his hands on the table sitting in front of him "We've been hoping for a miracle since this all started, but I'm afraid we have to make our own miracle."

Amy nodded "Eggman's army has everyone terrified. If we want the people to rally, we have to show them that strength doesn't just come from numbers."

Charmy suddenly spoke up "Not everyone is terrified. Vector, didn't you say a new recruit was joining us today?"

Espio then added "Yes, a survivor from the city, right?"

Vector nodded as Amy opened up a computer sitting on the table "Yeah, kid's a red Wolf.. Wares orange sneakers, white gloves, and some shabby white glasses."

Amy nodded as she typed Dustin's description into the computer "I'm accessing his file right now."

As Amy brought up Dustin's file the other Resistance members walked over to her and all stared at the computer monitor. Amy then began to read aloud what was on the monitor "According to what remains of G.U.N.'s database this new recruit's name is Dustin Filbert Wolf, his father was a banker, and his mother was a florist... Oh, and Dustin also was an A+ gymnast in school before all of this.. Happened."

Amy then closed the computer before looking over to Vector, a grin on her face, and saying "Seems like you've made a good choice Vector, with his gymnastic skills it's gonna be hard for Eggman to get a hold of him."

Vector sighed slightly "We'll see about that."

when suddenly a door in the room slid open and the Resistance's leader, Knuckles the Echidna, came walking through it. Espio looked over to Knuckles "What's the sitrep Commander?"

Knuckles grinned slightly as he walked over to his soldiers "Happy to see you're still alive Vector."

He then quickly shed his grin and grew a serious and authoritative look on his face "Eggman's forces have chewed through our defenses at Green Hill, and the other Resistance fighters in the city are reporting that whatever it is that killed Sonic-"

Knuckles closed his eyes and clenched his fists as everyone lowered their heads in both respect to their fallen comrade, and sadness over losing a friend, Knuckles then opened his eyes "Sorry, I'm still not used to saying that."

He then turned around to face the large wall mounted monitor sitting on the wall behind him "Whatever it is has got them running in fear."

Vector then suddenly cut in "All except for this brave kid."

He then walked over to the door Dustin was standing behind and opened it which allowed the Wolf to walk into the room and over to Knuckles along side Vector. Vector continued "From what I can tell he survived an encounter with that thing and he was able to make it here in one piece, of course after I pointed him in the right direction.. Knuckles, meet our newest recruit."

Dustin then held his hand out to shake Knuckles' hand but the Echidna instead walked over to the Wolf and gave him a hardy pat on the back which caused Dustin to lurch forward due to Knuckles' own raw strength. Charmy flew over to Dustin eyeing him as he did "Hmm, doesn't look like much."

Knuckles shook his head slightly "Neither do you Charmy, but I still manage to find a use for your pointy butt!"

Charmy rolled his eyes and scratched the side of his head as he silently giggled to himself, Knuckles then lead Dustin over to a wooden crate in the corner of the room and once they reached it Knuckles said "Here kid, take this. We're depending on you."

He then pulled out a device that had fireball-shaped cap piece that was held together by several black nozzles that were attached to a white barrel, it had three holes on its front, and a black handle on the back, Dustin wasn't quite sure what he'd just been handed but he wasn't able to ask Knuckles what it was because right as Dustin's hands touched the device Knuckles said "Okay, let's get going everybody! The world's not gonna save itself!"

Then everyone except for Amy and Dustin left the room. The red Wolf was about to leave the room when Amy suddenly ran over to him "Wait! Before you leave I gotta get you properly equipped."

Dustin nodded "Okay."

And Amy led him over to a stack of several wooden crates that were sitting in the back of the room. She opened one up "How do you feel about full body suits?"

Dustin put the red device down on the table next to that computer "Uh.. I don't like them?"

Amy nodded as she began to riffle through the crate "Do you like boots?"

Dustin shrugged "They're fine.. I guess."

Amy nodded again "And are you attached to your current clothes in any way?"

Dustin shook his head "No I'm not."

Amy then suddenly pulled some boots and gloves out of the crate. She spun around and showed them to Dustin, the gloves were colored marine green on top while the bottom side of the gloves were colored white, the gloves also had black chevron designs on the spot where the back of the hand would be, as for the boots they had a similar color pattern to the gloves, marine green front, white back, but what made them different from the gloves was that the boots had black shoe tips, and the chevron designs were placed ruffly on the middle of the front of the boots.

Amy then handed the gloves to Dustin and put the boots down on the ground next to him. While Dustin slipped into his new clothes Amy went back to rifling through the crate "You're gonna also need some way to store equipment out in the field.. What do you think about the color beige?"

Dustin took off his right shoe "Uh... It's fine I guess."

Amy nodded "You're also gonna need a new pair of glasses."

She then pulled out a beige combat belt with an attached strap that would be wrapped around the wearer's chest, and black rimmed glasses, she then turned around and looked at Dustin in his new gear "Wow, you already look like a top notch soldier."

She then handed him the combat belt and the glasses, once he had those on Amy then handed him a marine green colored ear piece. Once Dustin put that on Amy walked over to the computer "Just gotta add your recruit file to the system... Are you okay with the nickname Rookie?" Dustin furrowed his brow slightly "Is that necessary?"

Amy nodded "It is.. We do it so that your true identity is kept hidden from Eggman."

Dustin nodded as he un-furrowed his brow "Oh, alright. Yeah I'm fine with it."

Amy smiled and said "Good."

As she finished up Rookie's Resistance profile. Rookie then picked up that red device and left the room. Once he left the room Matty suddenly jumped in front of him "So! What's your new nickname?!"

Rookie was shocked by Matty suddenly popped up in front of him so he backed away from her slightly "Uh.. It's- It's Rookie."

Matty smiled widely "COOL! Mines Spark!"

Rookie raised an eyebrow out of curiosity "Why's that?"

Matty then suddenly pulled out some kind of yellow looking device and suddenly a yellow colored electric whip came out of it "That's why!"

Rookie jumped away from Matty when that electric whip was ignited "What is that!?"

Matty turned off that electric whip and attached the device that it had come out of to her skirt's belt "That's called an Electric Wispon.. And what you've got there is called a Burst Wispon."

Rookie looked at the device in his hands "How do I use it?"

Matty then wrapped her arm around Rookie's back and began to lead him down the hall "Don't worry you'll be taught that in training.. Which is being led by Newt."

Rookie looked over to Matty "Who's Newt?"

Matty face-palmed herself "Oh yeah! I never did tell you her name! You remember that bear with that voice changing mouthpiece?

Rookie nodded "Yeah her name's Newt."

Rookie again nodded "Oh, alright.. And her nickname is?"

Rookie was expecting Matty to answer but instead Newt was the one who suddenly did "Mine's Pi."

Rookie's ears perked up in shock as Newt suddenly stepped out from a doorway "The reason for that is because I was given the Cube Wispon.. Don't worry I don't really understand it either."

She then held out a blue hammer with a black handle before strapping it back onto the black belt that Rookie hadn't noticed yet "Now come on, training's about to start."

Matty patted Rookie on the back before he followed Newt back into the room she had just come from.

_Super Sonic blasted off towards the former leader of the Hard Boiled Heavies now known as the Phantom King. As the yellow glowing Hedgehog sped towards the flying robotic monarch it used the purple gemstone placed atop its metal crown to create several orbs of strange energy before firing them at Super Sonic, who dodged everyone of them, and with a sudden sonic boom Super Sonic blasted straight through the robot and it exploded. The explosion sent the gemstone flying up into the air and Super Sonic went to grab it when suddenly Eggman grabbed the stone using his Klepto Mobile which was a mech suit made out of a damaged Egg Mobile, and two large barrel like red robotic arms. Eggman cackled over the sound of the rushing wind "You lose Sonic!"_

_The yellow glowing Hedgehog grinned cockily "That's what you think Ro-Butt-Nik."_

_The doctor grumbled at the Hedgehog before swinging one of the Klepto Mobile's large red arms at Sonic. Super Sonic ducked underneath the incoming arm before blasting off towards the Mobile. The flying craft quickly flew up just enough for Super Sonic to miss his attack, the Hedgehog quickly turned around in the air and blasted off back towards the craft only to be met by another swing from one of the red arms, this time Super Sonic was actually hit by it and he was slammed into the ground underneath him, Super Sonic groaned as he stood up "That wasn't half bad Egghead."_

_He then suddenly blasted up off of the ground and slammed into the Klepto Mobile. The flying craft began to fall apart and Eggman along with his damaged Egg Mobile fell down onto the ground dropping the gemstone in the process, Super Sonic landed on the ground next to the gemstone and picked it up, the gem then began to vibrate as it began to emit several repetitive humming sounds, Super Sonic's entire body began to tingle before he was suddenly take out of his super form._

_The gemstone and the Chaos Emeralds flew high up into the air and Sonic was taken up with them. The Chaos Emeralds then began to spin around the purple gemstone before a crimson purple portal opened up and Sonic along with the gemstone were sucked into it._

###### 12:45 P.M. Green Hill City.

Tails pulled a screwdriver out of his toolbox and began to fiddle around with some of E-123 Omega's insides "Come on, come on!"

Sadly no matter what Tails did Omega would never turn back on. The fox sighed as he took his screwdriver out of Omega and put it back inside of the toolbox "Sorry buddy, I don't have the proper tools to fix you.. But I promise that once I have them I'll come back and fix you right up."

He then picked up his toolbox and turned around to see a manhole cover be blasted up into the air by a strong jet of water, that jet of water then transformed into Chaos 0 who glared at Tails "Oh no.. Chaos 0 I'm doomed... Seriously? Eggman thinks that you can take me down, I defeated Chaos 4 with-"

Suddenly Chaos lunged at Tails with speeds its never been able to achieve before. Tails was shocked to see Chaos move at those speeds and that caused him to drop his guard which allowed Chaos to body slam Tails and take him down to the ground, Tails was then engulfed by Chaos who turned into a ball of water, the fox kicked his legs to try and swim up to the surface of the water bubble Chaos, but that only caused him to be sent spinning around inside of the living bubble of water, he couldn't hold his breath for much longer, that's when a screwdriver floated past Tails' face, Chaos had engulfed the toolbox too, Tails grabbed the screwdriver and used it to poke a hole through Chaos.

The water bubble popped and Tails slid across the ground along with the water that rushed out of Chaos. Tails groaned as he stood up off of the ground only for Chaos to suddenly reform and pick Tails up, the water monster then turned Tails around in its hand so that the fox was facing Chaos instead of away from him, Chaos slammed Tails' back against a wall which caused the fox to yelp out in pain, Chaos suddenly made water rush up Tails' body and into his nose and mouth, it was drowning him, and due to the force of Chaos's rushing water Tails couldn't fight back, he couldn't move, there was a sudden break in Chaos's rushing water which allowed Tails to yell out "Help! Someone!"

But then Chaos filled Tails' throat and mouth with water again. He was beginning to black out from a lack of oxygen, everything was spinning, he could already hardly hear over the sound of Chaos's rushing water, but he was able to hear something strange, it was the sound of sparks and electric crackling, that was the last thing he heard until he blacked out and something fast and blue crashed through Chaos. Tails slid down the wall and onto the floor, and began to regain consciousness while he coughed out all of the water that had been forced into his lungs. Chaos reformed its torso and looked over to its left only to be met by a something crashing into its head, the water monster roared out in pain as something repeatedly crashed through its body over and over again, whatever was doing this to him it was so fast that Chaos couldn't fight back, but that didn't stop it from trying, it swung its right arm and tried to attack whatever was constantly crashing through him, and that was the last thing it did before whatever was attacking him crashed through Chaos's head again and the water monster fell to the ground and turned into a motionless puddle of water.

Tails groggily opened his eyes, his fur was still damp so the wind that rolled over his body felt cold to him, Chaos was gone, but whatever had saved him from the monster was still there, Tails looked over to the red shoes of his savior "..Sonic?"

Whoever saved him said "Yeah?"

Tails quickly got up off of the ground and saw standing in front of him was a small and younger version of Sonic "Wh- What?"

The younger Sonic cocked his head to the side "What's wrong?.. Like.. Why are you taller then me all of a sudden?"

Tails held his hand out and tried to poke the younger Sonic's head "Are you... Real?"

The younger Sonic grabbed onto Tails' finger before he was able to poke the Hedgehog's head "Yes I am real, now, tell me what experiment went wrong to make you grow up so fast."

The younger Sonic let go of Tails' finger and the Fox brought it up to his chin as he began to try and figure things out "This doesn't make sense.. The Time Stream should've fixed itself after the Time Eater Event."

The younger Sonic cocked his head to the side in confusion "Time Eater- What?"

But Tails wasn't paying much attention to the younger Sonic at that point "How'd you get here?"

The younger Sonic shrugged as he returned his head to its original position "Well, I was fighting Egghead and some rouge Eggrobo over a super mech Eggman was trying to build called the Titanic Monarch, we were all fighting each other to get our hands on some gemstone Egghead found on Angel Island, and after I took out the rouge Eggrobo and Egghead that gemstone made some portal and I was sucked into it.. That's how I got here."

Tails slowly began to nod "Wait, wait, wait! That- That changes everything!"

The younger Sonic furrowed his brow in complete confusion "What changes everything?"

But Tails wasn't listening to the younger Sonic still, instead his head was beginning to nod faster now "Yeah! You're not from the past! You're from another dimension! You obviously have to be, because what you just described is the exact same theoretical process of interdenominational transportation!"

The younger Sonic sighed as he brought his hand up and began to rub his forehead out of frustration "Tails, come on man.. I don't speak science."

Tails just then heard the younger Sonic "Oh! Uh, so this world isn't your home this is like.. A copy of your world that's different in certain ways, like, me and my Sonic seem to be older then you and your Tails."

The younger Sonic took his hand off of his head "How old is older?"

Tails shrugged slightly "Like.. My Sonic is twenty five, and I'm eighteen."

The younger Sonic suddenly grew a shocked expression "...Wow... Dude, I'm still alive? And.. Why aren't you in college, that's like, one of the things you've been looking forwards to since I met you."

Tails sighed "I had planned on going last year, but..."

The younger Sonic could tell that Tails was starting to get emotional "Hey, I may not be this place's Sonic, but I'm still a Sonic. You can talk to me."

Tails nodded "I had planned on going last year but then Eggman launched a surprise attack, and he took over the world.. Because he was able to.. Kill my Sonic."

The younger Sonic grew another shocked expression "O- Oh... Okay, so, that's bad.. Yeah that's all I got, that's just bad."

Tails took in a shaky breath "Yeah.. But.. Now that you're here, maybe me and the Resistance might get another chance at taking down Eggman!"

The younger Sonic sighed "I just did that but okay. Where can we find this Resistance?"

Tails hesitantly said "Uh.. The thing about that is.. At this time of day, Eggman's army has blocked off and land route to the city's base, but, there is a base in Green Hill Zone so we can head there and send a message to main base."

The younger Sonic nodded "Sounds like a plan."

Before Tails lifted up into the air and led him away from the spot where the lifeless Chaos puddle was still resting.

###### 12:47 P.M. An unknown Eggman facility.

Zavok walked through the cold blue tinted halls of Eggman's facility. He'd looked over to the robots that'd walk past them, but once they left his line of sight he lost interest, he honestly hated this place, but he was working for Eggman yet again so he'd have to deal with it, he'd just left the facility's prison block and was heading for what Eggman called a "living quarter" but it was actually just a small room with a bed to small for the large Zeti, a toilet, and a sink. Just then an Egg Pawn bumped into Zavok "Watch where you're going."

He then shoved the robot away from himself before continuing down the hall, that Egg Pawn then walked into a room out of everyone and everything's way, that Egg Pawn then took of its head and Rouge the Bat began to take in several deep cool breaths. She hated the disguise she was forced to ware just to hide from Eggman and his robots, she then put the fake Egg Pawn head back on and returned to walking down the hallway heading for the cell block where Zavok had just come from. Once she entered it she saw that the cell block was one giant circular room, and in the center of the room was a large circular platform that'd open up and let transport ships come and go to take prisoners wherever. She walked through the room and past various cramped cells, once she reached the other side of the room she walked into a straight hall way that led over to a metal door, she walked past five other metal doors as she headed for the main one, each other door had a sign placed over it that either said "Solitary Confinement" or "Torturer Cell" she didn't want to see if anyone was in those rooms.

But she had to investigate the room in front of her. She slide the door open slightly and once she did she heard the sounds of electricity crackling and someone screaming out in agony and pain, that person was Sonic, Metal Sonic was in the room and it was surrounded by its electric field which it was using to torturer Sonic, who was strapped down to a metal chair, by shocking Sonic endlessly Rouge couldn't stop herself from gasping in complete shock which drew attention to herself, Metal Sonic turned its head and looked over its shoulder to the door that was still open slightly, it then took its hand off of Sonic and stopped shocking the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic began to stomp towards the door where Rouge was hiding behind when suddenly Sonic said to Metal "..H- Hey! Metal-Head!.. What's wrong?.. You sad that you can't. Agh! Keep up that dumb electricity shield?"

The robot clenched its fists before turning back around and stomping back towards Sonic. Rouge began to silently leave the hall as Sonic's screams began to fill it. She walked through the facility and to a room no one ever used, she slid into it and took off her Egg Pawn mask before running over to a long range radio setup she had put together "Knuckles! Knuckles come in!"

There was static mixed together with the sound of Knuckles' voice "R- Rouge? Wh- What's w- w- wrong?"

Rouge glanced over her shoulder making sure the coast was truly clear "Sonic, he's alive.. He's been imprisoned by Eggman in a his new orbital prison called the Egg Station! He's being tortured as we speak, the Resistance has to act now!"

Knuckles didn't answer right away and the long pause of static silence made Rouge fear that her setup had lost the Resistance's signal "A- Alright.. We're c- c- coming to get him a- and you, just, give u- us time."

Rouge sighed "I don't think I can give you time.. That masked guy who defeated Sonic, he's starting to get suspicious of me."

She could hear Knuckles' sigh "Alright, w- we'll try to send a t- team up there as quickly a- as we can, just.. Hold o- on."

Rouge nodded "Okay."

Knuckles then turned off his side of the long rang radio, Rouge also turned off her side of the radio and put on her Egg Pawn mask before walking out of the room and made her way through the orbital prison just trying to keep her head down and stay out of that masked one's way until the Resistance came up to the station to save Sonic and bring Rouge back down to the earth.


	4. Storm the Space Port

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Dustin "Rookie" Filbert Wolf joined the Resistance and while Tails began to take the interdimensional Sonic to one of the Resistance's bases outside of the city. Rouge the Bat, a Resistance spy, relayed information she gathered from one of Eggman's bases to Commander Knuckles. Revealing that Sonic is still alive. With this new information, Knuckles begins to formulate a plan to find a way to Sonic's prison. The only question is, where will Rookie fit into all of this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just FYI, this one's a kinda long chapter.

### Storm the Space Port

###### 12:47 P.M. Underneath the ruins of Green Hill City, Resistance Base.

Rookie looked over his shoulder and at Matty as he followed Newt into the Training Room, a look of uncertainty, slight fear and confusion on his face. Once he and Newt entered the room the door behind them slid shut and Rookie decided that he should actually get a good look at the room he was technically forced into, the room looked like it was a large underground parking garage that had all above ground entrances sealed off, and it also had absolutely no cars in it, Newt the led Rookie towards an empty spot in a line of other Resistance soldiers. He looked to his right and saw that, going from the end of that side of the line to Rookie himself, was a orange furred Rabbit that wore a lot of leather and straps, then a brown colored Hedgehog that wore a blue hoodie, and finally a black furred Dog that wore a pair of red sneakers and white gloves, before he could look over to his left and see that side of the line Newt suddenly called out "Eyes on me!"

Rookie quickly straightened out and looked over to Newt. She surveyed the line of not-so-new recruits, well all except for Rookie who hasn't even started yet "Alright, we've gotten a new recruit recently. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Rookie."

The black Dog looked over to Rookie "Huh.. New blood, Eggman's gonna eat you alive."

The Rabbit snickered to herself "Says the guy who almost wet himself on his first mission."

The Dog shook his head slightly "I never said that I was better than him.. I was just saying he's not gonna survive, like me."

Newt suddenly spoke up again "Quiet!... Good, now that you're all done blabbing we can get started. Before we start, head over to the crate and pick your Wispon, except you Rookie, you've already been given one."

The others walked over to a G.U.N. crate and began to pull out their own Wispons. Once that was done they returned to the line and Newt continued "Knuckles and Amy wants us to work on some things that you've all been lacking on, teamwork, and Rookie, this course will give you a chance to get used to your Wispon."

As she finished the lights in the room began to turn off one by one "Once the lights go off I want you to run towards the closest section of cover you last saw when the lights were on.. Then, you'll know what to do."

Rookie quickly looked over to his left and saw a large pillar that helped to hold the roof up before the lights all finally went out. Rookie blindly ran through the dark heading for that pillar, all the while hoping he wouldn't trip and fall or embarrass himself in any way, he bumped into what felt like the pillar before getting down into a crouch and waiting there, after a few creepily silent moments the lights all turned back on and Rookie saw that Newt was gone, everyone else had scattered around the room, and they all heard the sound of heavy metal footsteps echoing through the Training Room.

Suddenly a large metal hand grabbed onto the pillar Rookie was still hiding behind which caused him to recoil away in fear as the rest of that metal body stepped into his view, it was a large slightly bulky metal replica of Sonic that had large gauntlets that took up its arm and had a end that perturbed outwards to protect its elbow joint, it also had one singular visor in its head where eyes would be, said visor had one large dark orange colored iris and the rest of it was a pitch black color, as for its actual body it was body was mostly colored ultramarine blue, its joints and mouth area were also colored silver, Rookie knew who that robot was, it was the second robotic doppelganger of Sonic, it was Mecha Sonic.

Rookie stood up and ran from Mecha Sonic, but sadly it followed him. Rookie suddenly came to a stop when he saw that the rest of the training group already had their hands full, they were all busy dealing with Silver Sonic, Rookie quickly glanced over his shoulder only to almost be hit by Mecha Sonic's fist. Rookie quickly ducked down and was able to roll away from Mecha Sonic before getting back up and aiming his Wispon at the robot, he hesitantly put his finger on the trigger as he slowly backed away from Mecha, why couldn't he fire it, Mecha Sonic isn't a person, it isn't a living thing, why can't he fire?!

Mecha Sonic was about to grab onto Rookie's Wispon and, out of a sudden burst of fear, he pulled the trigger and a massive blast of flames came flying out of the front of the weapon, the flames covered Mecha Sonic from head to robotic foot, a bright orange glow came off of the flames and bathed the surrounding areas of the Training Room in its light, Rookie suddenly took his finger off of the trigger and the flames stopped which let him see that in the place of Mecha Sonic there was now a bare Endoskeleton of a robot. The Endoskeleton collapsed onto the floor and Rookie stared down at it, a rush of happiness, and adrenaline filled him as he did "I- I did it.. I defended myself! I took out Mecha Sonic!"

At the same time he heard someone yell out "Watch where you're aiming that!"

And as Rookie turned around he saw Silver Sonic roll up into a large spiky ball and charge at two of the trainees, Rookie was about to try and help them but he was too late, Silver Sonic barreled towards the Rabbit and before it shredded her it suddenly un balled itself and slid across the ground stopping at the front of her feet. Newt then suddenly yelled out "Stop! Just stop!"

She walked out from behind a wall and over to the group that had tried, and failed, to deal with Silver Sonic "You're so hopeless! You can't work together on a mission and you can't work together here! If that was actually Silver Sonic you would've been shredded alive, all of you!"

She then turned around and faced Rookie, letting out a sigh as she said "Nice job kid."

He was about to say something when suddenly the voice of Knuckles came over the base's speaker system "Listen up! Newt, Matty, Vector, Charmy, and Espio I need all of you to report to the main room! I've got some information you're all gonna want to hear."

Everyone could hear the sound of Amy talking to Knuckles over the speaker, he sighed "You know what, Rookie, why don't you come stop by as well.. Wouldn't heart ya' to hear what I gotta say."

Newt then walked over to Rookie and the two were about to leave the room when that black furred Dog said "What about us?"

Newt looked over to him "You're staying in here and going through that process again until you can all work together properly."

The Dog grumbled to himself as Newt and Rookie both left the Training Room.

###### 12:48 P.M. Ruins of Green Hill City.

the younger Sonic ran through the streets of the decimated city while Tails flew over head, the younger Sonic scratched his right ear, he had yet to get used to the ear piece Tails had given him so his ear felt kinda uncomfortable and weird. Younger Sonic took a quick look at his surroundings as he said "This place is like a ghost town."

And suddenly the voice of Tails came over the ear piece "The radar shows Eggman up ahead. Enemies could be lying in wait, so watch your step."

Tails sighed as he turned off the Mini-Miles-Electric he was able to hobble together using some parts that came from some destroyed Egg Pawns "I get a feeling that Eggman has some tricks up his sleeve."

The younger Sonic jumped up into the air and once he hit the ground he immediately sped off, that was a little move he liked to call a Drop Dash, as he rolled across the streets of the city he crashed through any robots that were in his way. He quickly uncurled himself and sprinted down the street "This version of Egghead has conquered the world and his robots can still be sliced in half like butter? How does he even keep control of this place?"

Suddenly the ground underneath him cracked and caved in under him, he fell into the cities drained sewers and got up brushing himself off as he did, he then began to run through the sewers when robots began to appear around every corner, he was able to effortlessly take them out, but the fact they just appeared outa now took the younger Sonic by surprise. He quickly jumped up into the air and Spin Attacked through the ceiling of the sewers. Once he landed above ground he began to run across a bridge that might've had a river running underneath it at one point, but now it was empty, as he ran across the bride he heard the sound of a large foot step over to his left and when he looked over to it he saw a massive black and white colored Death Egg Robot that only had one red eye, the younger Sonic skid to a halt as he watched three to four giant Death Egg Robots tare through the city "..That answers my previous question."

He then resumed his running when the voice of Tails came back over the ear piece "This is terrible. They've made a total mess of the place. We have to stop Eggman and end this war quick!"

The younger Sonic stepped off of the bridge and continued forwards. He ran through a house that had a massive hole cut through it as if it was hit by a giant laser, which it probably was, he quickly exited the house and turned to his right where he saw hundreds of Egg Pawns all standing in a row, the younger Sonic quickly jumped up into the air and hit the ground blasting off into a Drop Dash that cut through all of the Egg Pawns in front of him, as he rolled the voice of Tails came over the ear piece "Careful Sonic- Younger Sonic I mean. I'm detecting a ton of readings besides Eggman, too."

The younger Sonic unballed himself and ran past a burning park when suddenly Tails landed next to him. The younger Sonic skid to a halt before saying "Good to see that you've decided to join me down here on the ground."

Tails scratched the back of his head as the two began to make their way down the road "Yeah, it's just safer for me to stay in the air while Eggman has control over this city, and the world."

The younger Sonic grinned slightly "And I guess I'm supposed to be safer down here?"

Tails nodded "You are a Sonic, you maybe younger, but you're still a Sonic... You know, I should figure out something else to call you that isn't Sonic or younger Sonic shouldn't I?"

The younger Sonic shrugged "Yeah why not."

Tails entered deep thought as he tried to come up with a nickname for the younger Sonic. The two continued to walk through the city keeping out of any and all of Eggman's robots' sight, eventually the two reached the edge of the city when Tails suddenly said "I know! I'll call you Blue!"

The younger Sonic looked over to Tails "It took you that long to come up with that nickname?"

Tails shrugged "What? It's not that bad of a name!"

Blue shook his head as he snickered to himself "Yeah whatever."

Suddenly Tails' Mini-Miles-Electric started beeping, Tails took out the miniature device and looked at it "Whoa! Those readings that I got before, one of them is stronger than the others! What could it be?"

Blue grinned "Doesn't matter to me so long as I get to smash it!"

Tails put away the Mini-Miles-Electric before saying "You might just get to, come on, the readings are right up ahead."

Tails flew up off of the ground and Blue zoomed off heading into Green Hill Zone.

###### 12:48 P.M. Resistance Base, Briefing Room.

Rookie, Newt, and Matty both walked over to the table sitting in the middle of the room where Amy, Knuckles, Vector, Charmy, and Espio were all standing next to. Newt saluted Knuckles "Sir!"

Knuckles waved his hand dismissing Newt's formality "Don't worry, I'm fine with being called Knuckles, and there's no need to salute me."

Newt relaxed as her, Matty, and Rookie both joined the core Resistance members at the table, Knuckles got everyone's attention "Ahem! So, the reason why I called you all here is to give you some incredible news.. Sonic is alive!"

Everyone at the table was engulfed in excitement and Amy, completely enveloped in joy, yelled out "What!? Oh, thank goodness! I knew it, I knew it!"

Knuckles waited for everyone to calm down before continuing "He's captured in an orbital prison called the Egg Station. My spy there says he's in a solitary confinement cell, and they've been torturing him since Eggman took over."

Charmy suddenly said "That's horrible! We have to rescue him!"

Knuckles smiled confidently "Plan's already happening, Charmy. I've got a squad on the way to the Space Port in the Chemical Plant to borrow a shuttle."

Vector grinned confidently "Alright! Who's up for an old-school style jailbreak?"

Knuckles then said "You heard the Croc! Let's go!"

Everyone in the room then ran towards one of the doors, although Rookie was just following everyone else. Once they all left the Briefing Room Knuckles slowed down and walked along side Rookie, Newt, and Matty "I've already given the Chaotix their orders, and all that's left is you three."

Matty grabbed onto her purple bandana and put it over her mouth "Lay it on us."

Knuckles nodded "The squad that I sent ahead is called the Special Forces, and you three are gonna meet up with them at the launch platform in the Space Port."

Newt nodded confidently "Yes sir."

Knuckles patted Newt on the back "You don't have to call me sir, but I'm honestly not gonna stop you."

Amy then called for Knuckles and he ran over to her. Rookie looked over to Matty "How are we getting to the Chemical Plant?"

Matty placed her goggles over her eyes "We stole a small transport boat from Eggman not to long ago, so we're probably piling into that and sneaking into the Plant."

Rookie nodded "Alright. And how are we getting to the Space Port?"

Suddenly Amy stepped in front of the three of them "With these!"

And in her hands were three wrist-mounted grappling hooks, the three slipped the grappling hooks onto their wrists and Amy let them continue walking. The Resistance fighters all snuck out of the base and made their way to the coast of South Island, specifically an old tackle and bait shop placed on an abandoned dock. Knuckles knocked on the shop's door and a moment latter the door was cracked open by someone on the other side "Who's there?"

Knuckles leaned against the door "It's Agent Spike, and I'm here with my rock band."

Rookie looked over to Matty confused, but that somehow worked and the door opened up. Despite its outside looks, the shop actually didn't have anything inside of it, except for a small transport ship that could fit Rookie, Newt, Matty, and all of the Chaotix slightly, Knuckles turned to his left and said "Thanks again Agent Arin."

Rookie looked over to his left and saw that Knuckles was talking to a big purple cat that had a brown belt with a golden buckle on, and a pair of brown sandals, the big cap nodded before walking over to a chair in the corner of the room, Rookie looked Newt still very confused "Who was that?"

Newt glanced over to the cat "His name's Big, he may seem.. Odd, but trust me, he's a caring guy."

Rookie nodded as Knuckles pulled a lever placed on a wall next to the front door that caused the floor underneath the ship to open up and the vehicle itself dropped onto the water. The soldiers that were being sent to the Chemical Plant all piled into the ship before Knuckles walked over to the edge of the open section of the floor "Chaotix, you're gonna distract the forces in the Chemical Plant for the other troops heading in there."

Vector nodded "You got it."

Espio then turned on the boat and Amy closed the hatch above them while the ship began to make its way towards their target.

###### 12:59 P.M. off the coast of the Northern Isle, the Chemical Plant.

The ship came to a stop on the beach of the island, cold air rushed past everyone stepped out of the boat and onto the snow covered beach. Vector turned around and faced the group of soldiers behind him "Okay, me and the Chaotix are gonna head out first. We'll give you guys the signal to go when we get the guard bots' attention."

The three of them nodded before Espio suddenly disappeared in a puff of white smoke, Charmy flew up into the air heading for the deeper parts of the Chemical Plant, and Vector ran after the Bee. Matty shivered slightly as she rubbed her arms to try and warm herself up "Man this place is cold!"

Rookie nodded as he brought his hands up to his mouth and began to breath on them to try and thaw them "Y- Yeah, wish I had more layers on!"

But Newt wasn't shivering, she looked as focused and determined as ever "Wh- Why isn't she cold?"

Matty glanced over to Newt for a second before looking back over to Rookie and answering his question "She grew up in Holoska, so this kind of weather is a cakewalk for her. As for me, I grew up in Spagonia, which does get pretty cold occasionally, but it's never as cold as Holoska, let alone this place."

Rookie sighed "I grew up back in Green Hill City, so I've never really been exposed to such cold weather."

Matty giggled slightly as the two canines tried their best to stay warm. After a minute or so Matty suddenly spoke up "Hey, Rookie. If it isn't to much to ask, did your family escape the city before Eggman took it over?"

Rookie shakily nodded "Y- Yeah they did. I haven't heard from them since, but I know they're safe."

Matty's expression soured slightly before saying "Me and Newt.. We don't really know if our families are okay... But, I know they are, they have to be. Newt's family is a bunch of wilderness survival experts, and my folks, they're smart. They probably hid away somewhere in Spagonia, probably in one of Professor Pickle's refugee camps."

Rookie looked over to Matty slightly confused "Wh- What? Pickle has a refugee camp?"

Newt nodded suddenly "Yeah, the professor always opens up some of his smaller schools to house refugees, I'm pretty sure the Spagonian Resistance turned those schools into safe zones for survivors."

Matty nodded "And that's just where my parents are. I know it."

There was a moment of silence before Rookie looked at the wrist-mounted grappling hook "H- How do we use these?"

Newt turned around and faced Rookie, showing him her grappling hook in the process "You just point it at any surface that it can sink its claws into, and then you're gonna pull your arm back, and thrust it back out, that'll launch the hook and before you know it you'll be soaring through the sky."

Rookie gave her a shaky smile due to the cold "Th- Thanks Newt."

She was about to say something when their communicators went off and the voice of Vector came over it "We've gotten the bots' attention! Get going!"

Matty brushed some snow off of the top of her googles "You heard him! Let's go!"

She then took out her Electric Wispon and ignited it. The three of them ran across the snow covered beach and into the Chemical Plant, Matty's electric whip crackled and popped as they ran which somehow increased Rookie's fear, maybe it was because he was afraid the electricity that was practically right next to him would suddenly pop at just the right moment to hit him, or maybe it was because as they ran across a frost covered metal bridge Egg Pawns turned around to face them. Matty suddenly passed the other two and quickly took out the three Egg Pawns that stood in their way with her whip, as Rookie and Newt caught up with Matty the red Wolf said "That was awesome!"

Matty looked over to Rookie, and the red Wolf could tell she was smiling behind bandana "I know right!?"

Newt suddenly spoke up as she put on her voice changing mouthpiece "Heads up, more robots!"

Rookie looked ahead and saw five Egg Pawns standing in their way. As they approached the robots the voice of Espio came over their communicators "Espio here. My team's engaging the enemy in the orbital tunnel!"

They could hear the voice of Vector faintly saying "Your team?!"

Over their communicators but Espio continued anyways "I think we can hold them off for now."

Suddenly everyone could hear a strange sound that sent a familiar chill down Rookie's spine "No, wait! The masked one's here! The monster that killed Sonic!"

There was the sound of an explosion that came over the communicator and after a few silent minutes they heard Vector's voice come through it "Stay focused rookies! We're off to get a different shuttle so that masked monster and Eggman's robots don't chase after to guys!"

Newt suddenly said to Rookie "You're up! Take out those bots!"

Rookie nodded slightly before holding up his Burst Wispon and pulling the trigger. The five robots that stood in their way all exploded instantly upon contact with the jet of fire that came out of Rookie's Wispon. The three suddenly skid to a halt and stared up to a large wall, Matty held out her hand and aimed her grappling hook at the top of the wall, she then pulled it back and thrust it out before a metal cable launched out of the grappling hook, it grabbed onto the top of the wall and Matty was suddenly pulled up to the top by the retracting cable.

Newt and Rookie both did the same thing as Matty and once they caught up with her they were greeted by a large group of Egg Pawns, Newt jumped up into the air, took out her Cube Wispon, and slammed it down onto the ground, once she did a blue shock wave rolled across the ground quickly and suddenly the Egg Pawns in front of her were encased in a large blue cube, Newt ran over to the lead cube covered Pawn and she hit the block that surrounded it with the hammer, all of the robots that were stuck inside of cubes exploded in bright blue flashes.

The three ran forwards taking out any robots that stood in their way when suddenly the bridge they were running across came to an end, Rookie skid to a halt and almost fell off of the bridge, luckily Newt grabbed onto the back of Rookie's combat pouches and pulled him back onto the bridge, Rookie looked over to his fellow soldiers "What do we do now?"

Matty stepped forwards and pointed at something "Look! Train rails!"

Newt and Rookie both stepped forwards and looked over the edge of the bridge and at a metal train rain that was suspended in midair, Newt looked over to Matty "Good eye! Come on let's go."

She then jumped off of the bridge and landed on the train rail, she then used her back leg to push herself forwards and began to grind across the rail. Rookie looked over to Matty "I've never done this before!"

Matty jumped off of the bridge as well before saying "Just pretend its a skateboard! Or if you don't know how to use a skateboard either, you can just use your acrobatic skills to keep your balance!"

She then kicked off of the rail and grinned away from him. Rookie took in a shaky deep breath before jumping off of the bridge and landing on the rail, a metal clang rang from the rail underneath him as his boots landed on it, he hesitantly used his back leg to kick off of the rail and he suddenly began to grind forwards gaining more and more speed as he did, suddenly the voice of Newt came over his earpiece "Me and Matty can't wait for you. We'll met you at the Space Port."

Rookie nodded "You got it."

His earpiece then turned off and he continued to grind, gaining more confidence in his grinding skills as he did. When suddenly the rails came to a stop, and in order to prevent himself from falling into the freezing water below him he jumped off of the rail and landed on a multi-tiered platform in front of the rail, Rookie picked himself up off of the ground and began to climb up the platform, once he reached the top of the platform he looked over to his left and saw a yellow train driving down a set of train rails that sat in front of the platform, Rookie turned his earpiece back on and contacted Amy "Hey! I can see something that looks like a.. Freight train."

Rookie heard Amy typing away at a keyboard before she said "It's carrying supplies. I don't think it's armed or anything."

Rookie nodded before turning off his earpiece and attempting to jump to the train rail. Sadly he didn't time it well and he suddenly landed on top of the caboose of the freight train. He slid across the top of the train car and before he almost fell off it he was able to grab onto the corner of the box shaped yellow car, he pulled himself up and began to crawl across the roof of the car, but once he looked to the front of the train he saw that it was quickly approaching a tunnel that's entrance was too low for Rookie to pass underneath. He frantically looked around his surroundings trying to find a safe way off of the train when he suddenly looked up and saw that he could grapple up to the top of the tunnel, he quickly fired the metal cable and zipped off of the top of the train car.

Once he reached the end of the cable the hook let go of the top of the tunnel and Rookie was flung forwards by his own momentum, he quickly looked over to his left and saw another freight train heading straight for him, he fired his grappling hook again, it attached to a crane, and he was pulled away from the second train. He had to detach the hook from the crane or else he'd be stuck up there, but once he did he was sent flying through the air due to his momentum yet again, there wasn't anything underneath him except for more freezing water, and he couldn't grapple off towards the right or left because he could see the Space Port dead ahead of him, Rookie had to act fast, he had to fire the hook at the right time so he wouldn't miss a metal pipe that he could use to swing into the area of the Chemical Plant in front of him.

Rookie quickly fired the hook and it attached to the red metal pipe, he used the metal cable to swing off of the pipe and he entered the tall roofed interior of the Chemical Plant. Rookie tumbled across the ground before finally coming to a stop and standing up, as he stood up Egg Pawns fell from the roof and landed in front of him, Rookie quickly held up his Wispon and fired it at them, the robots exploded and Rookie ran forwards when suddenly his ear piece turned on "This is Espio, in order to prevent Eggman's forces from destroying the Chatoix's shuttle I've volunteered to stay behind." Rookie skid to a halt and spoke into his ear piece "What?! No you could get outnumbered and fast!"

"I'm afraid it's what I must do to keep my friends safe."

Suddenly the voice of Newt came over the ear piece "Espio, it's not the only way. You could have Eggman's forces chase after you into the facility only for you to disappear and lose them, then you can join me, Matty, Rookie, and the Special Forces at the Space Port so that we can all head up to the Egg Station."

"I- I'll see what I can do. But for now leave the bulk of Eggman's forces to me."

Then the voice of Matty said "Alright Espio.. Rookie, Newt. You heard him let's head in while he keeps them busy!"

Rookie nodded before continuing forwards. As he ran more and more Egg Pawns would just fall from the ceiling and get in his way, but each time Rookie would take them out with his Wispon, it was almost therapeutic to watch the robots explode into harmless scrap metal and it sort of gave Rookie a twinge of self-confidence, the path Rookie was running along suddenly came to a stop, but above him there was a yellow pipe that snaked upwards and to a different pathway. Rookie jumped up and grappled up to the pipe, he then climbed up it and ran to the other pathway before continuing towards the Space Port, as he did the voice of Amy came over his earpiece "Report from the Special Forces: All quiet at the launch pad for now. But, that might not last long so everyone needs to grab a shuttle before they sound the alarm!"

Rookie ran through what looked to be a cargo bay for those freight trains as Buzz Bombers flew over head and fired at him, Rookie tried his best to use his Wispon to take them out but the reach of the fire was limited, suddenly a Bomber fired at Rookie's feet which caused him to fall over and as he fell his grappling hook suddenly went off, it attached to a Bomber and Rookie was dragged towards it. He stretched his feet out to try and brace himself for impact, but instead of ramming into it like a wall, he hit it and bounced off of it, as he fell back to the ground he watched as the Bomber exploded.

He could use his hook to perform some kind of Wire Attack! Rookie quickly got back up and, intentionally, fired his hook at another Bomber, he was dragged up into the air and Wire Attacked it before grappling onto another Bomber and doing the same to it, after a minute or so he had taken out all of the Bombers with his new found move, the Wire Attack, Rookie continued forwards when he suddenly reached another set of train rails that headed right towards the cargo bay for the Space Port, he quickly jumped onto one of the rails and grinned towards the Port. As he did the voice of Vector came over his ear piece "Perfect! They won't mind if we take this for a while."

Rookie then heard the sound of loud rumbling come from his right and when he looked towards that direction he saw a space shuttle begin to take off, as he watched the shuttle that more than likely had the Chaotix on board it Knuckles suddenly barked an order to him "Hurry it up Rookie! The Special Forces won't leave until everyone's on board their shuttle, which should be happening here soon! Step on it!"

Rookie quickly kicked off of the train rail again which gave him a boost of speed as he reached the end of the rails. But he couldn't get off there, because if he did he'd be stuck behind a tall fence. So he quickly jumped off of the end of the rail and used his grappling hook to fling himself to the other side, he paced underneath a metal archway before landing in the Space Port, he quickly began to run towards the massive snow covered shuttle that sat before him as he saw the engines turn on. As he approached the still extended loading ramp he could see Matty waving to him from the shuttle's door, Rookie quickly grappled to the door and flung himself into the ship as it began to take off, Matty closed the shuttle's door as she helped Rookie up "That was some entrance!"

Rookie nodded "Yeah it was. Agh! B- But it did hurt though."

Matty rubbed his shoulder to try and ease his pain "I bet, come on, the SF are waiting for you in the shuttle's bridge."

She then began to lead Rookie towards the bridge while the artificial gravity kicked in as the shuttle began to leave the atmosphere of the planet. The metal doors to the bridge slid open and the two of them walked in, Rookie's mouth hung open as he stared out the bridge's front window, he could see the infinite expanses of space lying right in front of him, it was breath taking, it was also kinda cool to see the snow and frost melt off of the window as the shuttle broke atmosphere, suddenly an unfamiliar female voice said to him "So you're this Rookie I've been hearing so much about?"

He looked to his left and saw standing next to a computer terminal was a brown furred Chipmunk with dark auburn hair that connected to the stripe that went down her back and ended at her tail. She had blue eyes, and wore black shorts with white rimming, dark blue boots with white outlines on the buckles, and white gloves with blue bracelets placed at the ends of the gloves. She also wore a closed blue vest with a black crop-top hidden underneath it, and she was showing a minor amount of mid-drift that let Rookie know she had a tan skin colored belly, she also had a pair of blue rimed goggles placed on the top of her head underneath her hair, and bandages wrapped around certain parts of her legs, arms, and even some placed on the underside of her face. Rookie nodded "Y- Yeah that's me."

She held her hand out for Rookie to shake it, which he hesitantly did "My name's Sally Acorn, but my code name is Agent Prince. I'm the leader of the Special Forces."

She let go of Rookie's hand and he placed it on top of his Wispon "O- Oh, cool. I'm new to the Resistance so, I don't really know much about you and you're team."

Sally nodded before suddenly yelling out "Special Forces! Front and center!"

Then three other people ran over to her and Rookie, they stood in front of him in a straight line. Going from the left to the right, there was a Coyote that wore a blue jacket with red trim, gold pads on the shoulders and red boots, a Lynx that wore a dark purple dress, black pants, white fingerless gloves, and dark purple boots, and a Rabbit that wore a light purple shirt, brown jacket, and light purple boots. Sally then walked over to Rookie's side and said "That Coyote's code name is Agent Cutlass, the Lynx's code name is Agent Shard, and the Rabbit's code name is Agent Rabbot."

Rookie looked over to Sally "And their real names?"

Sally nodded to the line of Agents and they began to say their own names.

The Coyote: "Antoine D'Coolette"

The Lynx: "Nicole"

The Rabbit: "Bunnie"

Rookie didn't really know what to do so he awkwardly waved "Hi.. My name's Dustin, or, I guess.. Agent Rookie."

Antoine smiled "It is nice to meet you, agent Rookie."

Antoine seemed to have a Spagonian accent, unlike Matty, Bunnie also had an accent but it wasn't as exotic as a Spagonian accent, because due to South Island's proximity to the southern parts of the United Federations he's always been able to hear southern Federation accents, Nicole, she had a regular old voice, at least to Rookie's ears. He just then remembered something "Wait, where's Espio?"

Nicole stepped forwards "Don't worry, he got aboard not to long before you. He's actually in the shuttle's cargo bay right now."

Rookie nodded "Okay.. H- How was he.. After."

Bunnie then said "If you're asking if he was okay after fighting that monster, the answer is yes."

Rookie let out a revealing breath "Good."

Suddenly the bridge's computers began to beep. Everyone turned to look out the front windows and saw that they were approaching the Egg Station, Sally readjusted her right bracelet as she said "Alright everyone, get ready we're about to head in."

Rookie took in a shaky breath as he nodded before Newt and Matty lead him out of the bridge and to the cargo bay, which is where they'd wait for the ship to dock at Eggman's orbital prison the Egg Station.


	5. Survive the Prison Hall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matty, Newt, Rookie, and the Special Forces along with the Chaotix and some other Resistance fighters have managed to board the Egg Station and everything seems to be going well. Or well enough while inside of enemy territory. But unknown to them something is jamming their signal back down to the Resistance on the planet's surface. Even still, they won't stop now. The Resistance will find Sonic, they will set him free, and they will defeat Eggman and his empire... Right?

### Survive the Prison Hall

###### 2:14 P.M. On Earth, Resistance Base, Briefing Room.

Knuckles and Amy both silently stood alone in the empty room. The two of them were intently watching the large screen that sat on the wall in front of them just waiting for any kind of news, good or bad, they just wanted news, when suddenly the long range radio turned on and the voice of Rouge came through it "K- K- Knuckles? Can y- you here me?"

Knuckles turned to face the radio that was placed on the table that sat in the middle of the room "Rouge! It's about time! How's Sonic doing?" Rouge sighed "H- H- He's been b- better. They're getting ready to execute him."

Amy suddenly spoke up "What?! You can't be serious!"

Rouge went silent for a moment before continuing "E- E- Eggman's been k- keeping Sonic alive all this t- time just so h- h- he can show Sonic his completed e- empire, before executing h- him."

Knuckles clenched his fists "And he's been torturing Sonic just to pass the time.. I'd say that's low even for Eggman.. But he made that.. THING, so it honestly doesn't surprise me. It just sickens me."

There was a silent moment between everyone to try and calm down enough to keep things professional. Rouge then said "Eggman got wind of our rescue plan and is moving forward with his plan ahead of schedule. The clock is ticking boss." Amy put her hands on the table before saying "But we don't even know where Sonic's being held captive in the Egg Station!"

"Yes we do, or yes I do. Eggman's keeping Sonic in cell block 4, it's a high level security area so it'll be a very dangerous place for any soldier. But that's where Eggman's keeping Sonic."

Amy shook her head "A high security area, that's not good."

Knuckles sighed "Sadly Amy, none of this is good. That's why it's called war."

He took in a deep breath and said to the radio/Rouge "Can you link up with the invading soldiers and tell them where to find Sonic?"

"Y- Y- You got it K- K- K- K-"

Rouge's voice was suddenly cut off as static replaced it, Knuckles tried to fiddle around with the radio's dials but there was only static "Rouge? Rouge? Rouge!? ROUGE!?"

Amy opened up the computer that sat in front of her and began to investigate what was going on, when she suddenly gasped "Eggman's blocking the signal! He's blocking all incoming and outgoing signals from the Egg Station!"

Knuckles looked over to Amy, a look of fear washed over his face "What?! That means the Special Forces, Rookie, Matty, Newt.. Rouge. They're all cut off from us!"

Amy sadly nodded "Our only hope is that they can stumble upon Sonic's cell block and break him free, or that Rouge is somehow able to meet up with them and show them the way."

Knuckles also nodded sadly before looking back over to the wall mounted screen and silently saying "Rouge, Rookie, Newt, Matty, and all of the Special Forces.. May the Chaos Spirits watch over you, please, be safe."

Sadly despite Knuckles' best wishes, he and Amy couldn't do anything except wait for good news, and it had to be good news, it just had to be.

###### 2:16 P.M. Above the planet, just outside of the Egg Station, cargo shuttle 453.

Rookie, Matty, and Newt all walked into the cargo bay of the ship and they all saw Espio sitting on a red crate a little bit in front of the door. Rookie stepped forwards "Espio! You're alright-"

Except he technically wasn't, Espio's horn was broken in half and he had several bruises all over his body, Espio sighed "Don't worry about me Agent Rookie. I'm fine, what we should be worrying about is the fact we don't know what we're walking into, and I can't get a message to my fellow Chaotix."

Matty took her bandana off of her mouth which showed off her frown "That's not good."

Newt nodded "It definitely isn't good. But we can handle it."

Espio grinned slightly "That is good."

He then got off of the crate he was sitting on before the voice of Sally came over the shuttle's PA system "We're approaching the Egg Station now!"

As she finished the rest of the Special Forces suddenly entered the cargo bay. Rookie turned around and said to Nicole "Sally isn't coming?"

Nicole nodded "She wants to stay behind and guard the shuttle."

Antoine sighed "I'd love to stay behind and protect her but it is my duty to follow her orders so I must join you all on the Egg Station."

Bunnie nodded "Ah'd love to stay behind and help her too Twan, but we got a job to do."

Everyone could feel the shuttle come to a stop before they all made their way over to the cargo bay doors. As they all stood in front of the bay doors waiting for them to open Matty looked over to Rookie "You okay?"

Rookie also looked over to Matty, only he was giving her a look of confusion "Wh- What do you mean?"

Matty shrugged "You just look.. Scared."

At that moment Rookie could feel all of the anxiety in his body, he was holding onto his Wispon with a death grip, he felt sweaty, and his heart was beating a million miles per second "I- I am scared. But how else am I supposed to feel?"

Matty sighed "There really isn't any other way to feel right now. Just stay safe and you'll make it out alive."

Rookie nodded "Yeah, I'll make it out alive."

Matty grinned "That's the spirit."

She then looked over to Newt "Hey, how's about a good luck kiss?"

Newt didn't looked over to Matty, instead she continued to focus on the door "Right now? Really?"

Matty nodded "Come on, is my big fluffy girlfriend worried that she'll be embarrassed if she kisses me?"

Newt sighed before looking over to Matty "Fine, come here."

She then pulled Matty in for a quick kiss on the lips, meanwhile Rookie just tried his hardest to not stare and to try and calm himself down, Bunnie was glancing over to Antoine every so often while the Coyote readjusted the sword strapped to his hip, and Nicole stood next to Espio, the both of them just waiting for the doors to open. Suddenly sirens began to sound off as the door slowly slid open and a cargo ramp came out from underneath the door. They all ran out of the shuttle and down the ramp, the cargo bay of the Egg Station didn't have any enemies inside of it which was odd, and that only added to Rookie's anxiety, the Special Forces soldiers came to a stop and so did everyone else when suddenly the voice of Sally came over the cargo shuttle's exterior speakers "Listen up! Nicole, Antoine, Bunnie! You take Espio to go find the rest of the Chaotix then you'll help them try and find Knuckles' spy and Sonic! Matty, Newt, Rookie you three go and try to find Sonic yourselves! Who ever finds him first needs to contact the other Resistance soldiers in this space station and get back to this shuttle."

Nicole nodded before facing the group "Let's go guys."

The three Special Forces members all took Espio and ran towards one of the hallways. Matty, Newt, and Rookie looked at each other before they all ran towards a separate hallway, they ran through the hallway and it eventually turned into a bridge that stretched across a massive open space, Rookie could see over the sides of the bridge's rails that bellow them was nothing but weapons and robots manufacturing plants, Rookie suddenly looked away from the area below him when the sound of Newt and Matty firing off their grappling hooks caught his attention. Newt and Matty's hooks grabbed onto a poll over to their left and they used that leverage to quickly turn a sharp corner. Rookie thrust his arm out and fired off his grappling hook at the same poll Matty and Newt had hooked onto.

He then took in a deep breath before holding onto it and turning the same sharp corner as Matty and Newt, as he turned he almost ran into Matty, but he panicked, retracted the metal cable, and almost fell onto his face, as he fell his finger pushed his Wispon's trigger slightly which caused a small blast of fire to come out of the front of the Wispon, that small blast caused Rookie to be launched high up into the air, screaming as he did. Matty quickly spun around as Rookie was launched up into the air "Whoa! Dude are you okay!?"

As Rookie got higher up into the air he was able to yell out a response "Y- Yeah I'm fine!"

After that he then landed another pathway that hung over Matty and Newt's heads, as he stood up he picked up his Wispon again before looking in front of himself and saw six Egg Pawns all standing in front of him. Rookie quickly scrambled up and onto his feet while the robots charged up their blasters and fired at him, Rookie quickly tucked and rolled out of the Egg Pawn's fire while Matty and Newt quickly engaged a different gathering of Egg Pawns that stood in front of them, Rookie aimed his Burst Wispon at the Egg Pawns and pulled its trigger destroying the Pawns closest to him, Matty took out her Electric Wispon and whipped at the Pawns while Newt took out her Cube Wispon and smashed it into the lead Pawn. Rookie lunged forwards and took out the last Egg Pawns with his Wispon, he ran over to the end of the pathway he had launched himself up onto and saw that below him was the pathway Matty and Newt were still on.

Matty wrapped her whip around one of the Egg Pawn's head and she tore it off while Newt slammed her hammer against the ground and encased the Egg Pawns that had surrounded her in large blue cubes, Matty then quickly spun around and used her Electric Wispon to take out the cubed Pawns when suddenly Rookie dropped down and landed on their pathway, he groaned slightly as he stood up straight "That was a long fall."

Matty and Newt ran over to him. Newt quickly asked "You okay?"

And Rookie nodded his head "Yeah, that fall just stung."

Matty took the little break they were currently in to pull her bandana back over her mouth "Let's get moving!"

Rookie nodded as he turned around and stared up at the large wall that stood in front of the three of them "How are we gonna get over this?"

Newt glanced around their surroundings "It seems like this is supposed to be some kind of lift, but those Egg Pawns have disabled it and none of us know how to activate it again."

Rookie looked at his wrist for a moment before quickly running towards the wall and putting a foot on it, he then shoved off of the wall and fired his grappling hook at the top of it, he was then pulled up to the top a small smile of confidence grew across his face as he reached the top.

As Newt and Matty both did the same thing as Rookie the red Wolf saw two Buzz Bombers flying towards him. He quickly jumped up into the air and Wire Attacked them, while he took out the last Bomber Matty and Newt both reached the top of that wall and saw Rookie's Wire Attack, Matty yelled out "COOL!"

As Rookie landed on the ground "Yeah, I guess so."

The three of them then heard the voice of Nicole come over their communicators "We've linked up with Knuckles' spy and are currently making our way to Sonic's cell. Newt, Matty, Rookie how are you three doing at your side of the facility?"

Rookie quickly spoke into his headset "We're doing fine, we should be heading towards one of the facility's prison blocks right now."

Suddenly the voice of Rouge came over the three's communicators "Good, and we all might want to hurry up. Before the SF found me I was talking to Knuckles and Amy, when suddenly my signal was just cut off. I think Eggman's up to something, something bad."

Matty then said "We're hurrying it up now!"

She then started to run forwards before looking over her shoulder and to Newt and Rookie "Come on guys!"

The other two nodded before they also ran forwards. They followed Matty down a spiral staircase and as they did they past by various solitary confinement cells that had what looked to be Resistance soldiers locked inside of them, Matty said into her communicator "We've entered one of the cell blocks and it seems like the prisoners here are being held inside of some kind of internment facility. I hope Sonic's in here."

The voice of Rouge then came over their communicators and said in response "Security's tight all over the place, so stay on your toes."

As they ran through the prison hall Egg Pawns suddenly came out of small openings in the walls and stood in the three's way. Rookie ran forwards and quickly blasted the robots with his Wispon, they then ran through the smoke left behind from the fire and the explosion of the robots when they suddenly came to a dead end and Egg Pawns appeared behind them and cornered them, as Matty leaped into action the voice of Antoine came over their communicators "Nothing in zis room either."

Then the voice of Vector came over the communicators as well "Man! We're still trying to fight our way out of the place we landed in. They've got us pinned down!"

Matty destroyed the last Egg Pawn and the robots explosion sent its severed arm flying towards a button on the dead end wall. Once the arm hit the button the area Rookie was standing on suddenly sprouted guard rails and it began to lift up into the air. Newt quickly spun around, jumped up, and grabbed onto the lift "Matty come on!"

The white Dog ran over to her girlfriend and jumped onto her back while the lift carried the three of them upwards, once it reached the top of that not-so-dead-end-wall Newt and Matty climbed up onto the lift and Rookie helped them stand up, as he did the voice of Espio came over their communicators "Vector, Charmy. I've broken off from the Special Forces with their permission to assist you two."

"Thanks Espio, we really need the help."

Once Matty and Newt got back up onto their feet the three returned to running through the prison hall they were stuck in. As they ran robots would try and attack them but the three were able to take them out using their Wispons, as they continued to run the voice of Bunnie came over their communicators "Looks like this place was used up until recently."

The voice of Espio responded "It appears that many of brethren were held here."

Matty grumbled to herself "That's one more thing Eggman will answer for."

The other two nodded before sirens began to sound all around them and Matty said "Uh-oh. They're on high alert now."

Before they used their grappling hooks to turn another sharp corner. Once they turned the corner they all let out a gasp as they saw a large security door begin to slid shut right in front of them, Matty and Newt both quickly skid to a halt while Rookie was filled with panic that caused him to detach his cable and slid right in between the two still closing security doors right before they finally closed. Newt quickly spoke into her communicator "Rookie! Are you alright!?"

He nodded as he stood up straight and stared at the closed security door "Y- Yeah I'm fine. But it looks like I'm trapped in here."

He then turned around and saw that he was inside of some kind of narrow hallway filled with nothing but "Oh.. Gaia."

It was filled with nothing but torture cells. Suddenly Rouge's voice came over the communicator "Wait, Rookie. Which cell block are you in?"

Rookie looked around the area and saw the name of the cell block printed on the security door in bold letters "I'm in cell block 4."

"Rookie! That's the cell block Sonic's captured in! You need to hurry before Eggman locks the block down completely!"

Rookie nodded before he quickly began to run forwards as Aero-Chasers began to fly after him. Once they got in front of him they spun around to face him and they fired their large lasers at him, Rookie dodged the lasers and continued to run forwards while sirens continued to blare all around him, he continued to dodge the Aero-Chasers' lasers when he suddenly saw that the security doors in front of him began to slide close, he started to panic, he wouldn't be fast enough to slip in between the two doors, but he had to be, he could practically fell Sonic at this point, he had to save him. Suddenly an Aero-Chaser fired a laser at Rookie, the laser grazed his leg which scared him enough to cause him to trip over himself and fall flat on his face.

He quickly scrambled up onto his feet and used his Wispon to take out the Aero-Chasers that had been harassing him, once they had been taken out he quickly scrambled forwards hoping desperately that he'd be able to slip in between the security doors, sadly, he was too late, the doors slid close right in front of him and he skid to a halt before slamming his fists against the door "NO!"

Then the voice of Matty came over his headset "Rookie? What's wrong?"

He sighed as he said "I failed Matty, the cell block's doors slid closed right in front of me."

He took his hands off of the door and picked up his Wispon right as Bunnie's voice came over his headset "Rookie, ah know that it must hurt knowing that you failed. But we can still save Sonic, and we can only do that right if you make your way back to the shuttle, we gotta regroup with the rest of the soldiers on board the station."

Rookie nodded "Yeah, I'm on my way."

He then turned around and saw a vent hanging over his head, he used his grappling hook to pull the vent's grate off and then to climb up into it.


	6. Escape the Egg Gate

### Escape the Egg Gate

###### 4:16 P.M. The Egg Station, Cell Block 4, Sonic's Torture Cell.

Sonic groaned slightly as he attempted to open his eyes. His entry body ached, his head was spinning, and he could barely feel his legs, which was a feeling he never liked period, he could also hear the faint sound of what must've been alarms blaring in the distance, suddenly the cell's door opened up and Zavok walked into the room, he was holding some kind of small metal device that almost looked like a TV remote "This is the end, Sonic."

The Hedgehog coughed as he opened his mouth "O- Oh hey! S- Sounds like a party's started! W- Wanna let me go and join in? N- No? Of course not. you hate fun."

He coughed out those last words before Zavok held the remote like object up "Eggman wants you dead. And that's what I'm here to do."

Sonic tried to do his famous cocky grin but he was in to much pain to actually do it properly so it looked like a forced smile you'd see in an awkward picture "R- Really? Egghead doesn't want to take me out himself? That's new."

Zavok pointed the remote at Sonic and lifted his thumb up to press a red button on the remote like object, but before he could the facility suddenly shook as the lights in the cell block dimmed and its artificial gravity was deactivated. The sudden shaking of the facility prevented Zavok from pressing that red button, and once the gravity was disabled he began to float off of the ground. The remote slipped out of his hand and floated over to Sonic, who was able to grab onto the remote as it passed by his restrained hand, Sonic looked at the various buttons on the remote before saying "Oh! W- Would you look at this! There's a button here that says 'adrenaline boost' I won't question why Egghead even put that on here but, I'm not really complaining."

Sonic the pressed the button he was talking about and suddenly his restraints hit him with an electrical current that'd force his mind to ignore his body's pain, and to boost his adrenaline, like the button said. Sonic shook his head "Wow! That packed a kick!"

Then suddenly the lights in the room returned to their normal brightness before the gravity turned back on, Zavok fell to the floor and as he picked himself up he looked over to Sonic and saw the Hedgehog's restraints suddenly come off of him "The end huh?"

He then got out of his chair and stood over Zavok "Let's see you try something now that I'm free."

Zavok growled at Sonic before finally standing up "Foolish Hedgehog. Getting out of your chains does not make you free. Now come, and face the inevitable."

Sonic rolled his eyes before suddenly speeding towards Zavok and sliding in between his legs. The Zeti turned around as Sonic said "The only thing inevitable here is my foot kicking your butt!"

Zavok tried to shoulder charge into Sonic but the Hedgehog quickly jumped out of the way before running past Zavok and out into the circular cell block that the solitary confinement cells were attached to. Sonic came to a stop once he saw that the exit to the cell block was already closed, he turned around to see Zavok standing in the center of a large, circular, metal hatch that sat in the middle of the room, in his hand was that remote "The only way out is through that door. And the only way to open it is with this remote."

Sonic stepped forwards "Then whey don't you hand it over, or do you want that butt kicking now?"

The Zeti then suddenly tossed the remote away before jumped up into the air, and at the same time the hatch opened up, Sonic braced himself to be sucked out into space, but thanks to an energy field the suction of space didn't affect the facility, but that didn't stop Zavok from falling through the field and out into space. Sonic was pretty shocked to just see Zavok fall out into space "That.. Was easy."

He was about to try and go find that remote when suddenly he heard a loud buzzing sound come from that hole where the hatch used to be, as he turned around he saw Zavok begin to rise up out of the hole, but that wasn't all, he was also ridding on top of a massive yellow and black colored Buzz Bomber. The Zeti bumped his fists together twice before letting out a loud roar. That circular hatch then slid closed as Zavok said "I can't wait to see how long you last against this."

Sonic began to run towards Zavok as he said "Come out and fight me yourself, and I'll mop you up real quick!"

Zavok growled at Sonic from on top of the Buzz Bomber "Impudent runt! I'm going to savor watching you suffer at my hands."

Suddenly three regular sized Buzz Bombers, just, appeared in front of Sonic. The Hedgehog jumped up into the air and Homing Attacked into each of them and as he landed back on the ground the Buzz Bomber's six legs all pointed at Sonic before firing bright yellow lasers out of their ends, Sonic quickly dodged the lasers before trying to Homing Attack into Zavok, but that Bomber quickly spun around and hit Sonic out of the air with one of its large purple wings, as Sonic picked himself up off of the ground he saw that several Buzz Bombers all appeared around him in a circle, they then all charged towards Sonic but he quickly jumped up into the air and curled up into a Spin Ball, he just let the Bombers all run into him and destroy themselves, once he landed back down on the ground he was covered in the shadow of the massive Buzz Bomber.

Sonic quickly jumped out of the way before the Bomber smashed down onto the ground. The force of that smash sent Sonic flying up into the air, which gave him the perfect angle to Homing Attack Zavok, but each time Sonic did attack him the Zeti would shoved Sonic away with his arm, that was until the Bomber suddenly dislodged itself out of the ground and caused Zavok to stumble, Sonic took the opportunity to finally attack Zavok while he was distracted. As Sonic bounced off of Zavok the Zeti said "You're not making this easy are you?"

And as Sonic landed back on the ground Zavok continued "No matter. Crushing you will be all the more satisfying!"

Suddenly Buzz Bombers began to appear continuously and they all tried to ram into Sonic, at the same time Zavok's Bomber would try and charge towards Sonic and impale him with its spiked end. As Sonic took out the last Bomber he was yet again covered in Zavok's Bomber's shadow, he quickly rolled out of the way as the Bomber slammed into the ground and sent Sonic flying up into the air, and just like last time Sonic Homing Attacked into Zavok, and just like last time, the Zeti would block most of the Attacks, but unlike last time, the Bomber tried to dislodge itself but failed to actually do it, this did cause Zavok to stumble just like last time and Sonic Homing Attacked into him again.

As Zavok shook his head and recovered from the Homing Attack Sonic landed on the Bomber as well and stood in front of Zavok. The Zeti tried to punch Sonic but the Hedgehog quickly jumped up into the air and Homing Attacked Zavok yet again, once Sonic landed he quickly punched Zavok in the face and followed it up with a kick, then a punch, then more kicks, then even more punches, and all before he hopped up into the air and Homing Attacked Zavok for the last time. The Zeti fell off of the Bomber and onto the ground as Sonic leaped up into the air and cut right through the massive Buzz Bomber, destroying it finally, as Sonic walked away from the wreckage of the massive Bomber he said "That was a blast! Bring some chili dogs next time.. Now then, where's that remote?"

And as he began to look around for it he heard Zavok groan as he got up off of the ground "N- No! How could I lose to the likes of you again?!"

Sonic turned around and faced the injured Zeti "Well let's see, besides the obvious fact that you may be stronger than me, you're not faster than me. There's also that little thing of, you joined Eggman AGAIN! Like seriously? Why did you join him again? You and the Deadly Six hated Egghead because he enslaved you guys with that.. Conch.. thing." Zavok tried to walk over to Sonic but suddenly a surge of pain coursed through his body. Zavok fell to one knee as he gripped his side "I- It wasn't a choice I made easily, or a choice I wanted to make.. Period."

Sonic cocked his head to the side slightly out of confusion "What do you mean?"

Zavok sighed "I was out in the Lost Hex, practicing, when suddenly Zeena came running to me. She said that- That Zazz had been killed.. He was killed by that masked MONSTER, so me and the remaining Six all tired to take down that monster, but.. Something happened, it was to fast for me to even comprehend, and- and before I knew it, I was the only one left alive... Sonic, it gave me a choice, either I die there weak and defeated. Or I join Eggman and help him conquer the world, I chose to live, at the time I thought I was saving myself, that I could one day turn against Eggman and that monster, that I could kill it and get revenge for my fellow Zeti.. But now I know, no one can kill it, not even Eggman. So ever since I made that choice, I've regretted it, I now wish that I had died there in the Hex with my fellow Zeti.. I am now the last Zeti alive."

Sonic's eyes widened in complete shock "Z- Zavok. I- I-"

"Don't spare me any sympathy, I was weak and I failed.. You've earned your freedom, go."

Zavok then pointed in the direction of the remote before he sucked up his pain and stood up off of the ground. Sonic walked over to the remote and picked it up, he inspected the remote and saw a button labeled "evacuate" Sonic pressed the button and the cells in the area all opened up and the circular hatch opened up which let a transport shuttle fly into the cell block, the prisoners all ran into the transport and they ran past Zavok, Sonic watched as Zavok walked away from the massive gathering of prisoners. Sonic suddenly ran over to Zavok and began to lead the Zeti towards the shuttle "Wh- What are you doing?"

Sonic shrugged "Sympathy, and heroism make you do crazy things."

He then helped Zavok onto the shuttle, who took up the last open spot in it, before Sonic stepped off of the ramp "Now then, that shuttle should take you back down to Earth, I hope, so once you're down there lay low and keep out of Eggman's sight. Also, don't try anything on the way down, you maybe stronger than those former-prisoners, but they outnumber you and have access to Egghead grade weapons."

Zavok glanced over his shoulder and at the prisoners while Sonic pressed another button that opened up the exit doors. Before Sonic left the cell block Zavok yelled out "Wait! Sonic!"

The Hedgehog stopped and turned around "Yeah?"

The Zeti sighed "At the very top of the Egg Station, there's a docking bay that has a shuttle that can take you back down to the planet's surface."

Sonic nodded "You got it!"

He then turned back around and ran out of the cell block.

5:17 P.M. Egg Station, Cell Block 5.

As Sonic ran through a hallway sirens blared all around him "Guess they found out I escaped, oh well."

Suddenly the ceiling over him began to lower down in an attempt to squash him "Time to kiss this yawnfest goodbye!"

He then boosted out of the hall and as he left it several security doors slammed shut behind him before the airlock opened up and he jumped out into space. He expected to become weightless and just float around, but the Egg Station's artificial gravity somehow stretched outside so Sonic was still affected by his own weight, he then landed on what looked like train rails that headed down into a separate area of the Egg Station and looked over to his left "Whoa! We're a lot farther off planet than I thought! Guess anyone that crosses Eggman gets a one way trip high up into space."

Suddenly Buzz Bombers flew out of hatches in front of Sonic and the Hedgehog quickly jumped off of the rail and Homing Attacked into them before landing back on the rail "No way I'm sticking around here! There's hardly anything to run on!"

Sonic continued to grind along the rail and into that new area of the Egg Station, which looked to be a giant cargo bay, before jumping off of the rail and running along the top of a stationary yellow freight train. Once he reached the end of the train he jumped up high into the air as Egg Pawns noticed him and began to fire at him. Sonic then Stomped onto the ground and boosted forwards, and the shock wave of the boost blasted the Pawns away before they exploded upon impact with each other or anything else that was in the massive cargo bay, Sonic quickly drifted to his right and ran through a narrow hallway "I don't do well in tight spaces. I'll pay back Eggman for putting me in this jam latter!"

Suddenly the Station shook and an airlock opened up. Sonic was sucked out into space and three Aero-Chasers flew out of the airlock behind him, and as for Sonic, at one moment he was weightless, then the next gravity returned to him and he landed on the side of the Egg Station, he looked up and saw a brand new Egg Fleet surrounding the Egg Station "Man, Egghead's made another Fleet? Oh well, I'll be outta here in no time though. Just wait and see Eggman!"

The three Aero-Chasers then opened up their large laser cannon arms and began to fire at him. Sonic sidestepped out of the way of the Chasers' lasers before boosting again. He had to find a way to get up to that hanger Zavok told him about, but he could turn around, those Aero-Chasers would shoot him in the back if he did, that when suddenly the Chasers closed their cannon arms and flew away before a small fleet of drone space planes started to fly towards him, Sonic grinned before he jumped up and landed on one of the planes, it took Sonic high up the Egg Station, but as it passed by a certain area of the Station laser turrets popped out of the facility and began to fire at the space plane Sonic was on "Man, they're packing a lot of fire power. Still, doesn't matter if they can't land their shots! Here goes nothing!"

He then jumped off of the plane he was on and onto another one. The plane he was once on was destroyed by the turrets and he could feel the one he was currently on begin to take sever damage as well, he then jumped to another plane before the other one exploded, the plane he was now on flew high up above the Egg Station and Sonic was able to get a good look at the entrance for the shuttle hanger, sadly due to him becoming distracted hundreds of turrets all charged up and fired at the plane Sonic was on. The plane exploded and sent Sonic fly through the air and towards the hanger, Sonic quickly spun around in the air before he truly entered the hanger and gravity returned to normal for him, Sonic rolled across the ground and quickly jumped up before running towards a large shuttle sitting at the very back of the hanger.

###### 5:18 P.M. Above the Shuttle Hanger.

Rookie kicked down a vent grate and quickly dropped out of it and landed on the metal floor bellow him. He groaned slightly as he stood up and looked over to his right and saw Matty running over to him "Rookie!"

The red Wolf walked over to Matty who suddenly pulled him into a hug "M- Matty, something wrong?"

She shook her head before letting go of him and stepping back "No, nothing's wrong. I was just trying to comfort you."

Rookie grinned slightly "Thanks."

She nodded before Newt came running over. Matty turned to face her Bear girlfriend "What's up?"

Newt then suddenly began to lead Rookie and Matty towards the shuttle they had used to board the Egg Station "Sally's run into so engine problems, Eggman's trying to hack into the shuttle's system and disable them. So we gotta by her and Nicole, who's hacked into Eggman's system, some time."

Matty nodded before pulling out her Wispon "What are we gonna smash?"

Newt stopped and they all looked at the end of the hanger "We're smashing them."

Suddenly a door burst open and Egg Pawns, Buzz Bombers, Moto Bugs, all came flooding into the hanger, but Rookie saw something that made him begin to be filled with fear, one thing that made him take in a sharp breath when he saw it, the hoard of robots were being lead by Metal Sonic, who was staring right at Rookie.

Newt and Rookie took out their Wispons and began to charge towards the robot hoard, who all did the same. Metal Sonic blasted off towards Rookie who pulled his Wispon's trigger, but the robot quickly dodged the stream of fire before smashing into Rookie's side, which sent him flying towards the other end of the hanger, as Rookie attempted to stand back up he saw that Metal Sonic was heading towards the shuttle, Rookie quickly fired his grappling hook at Metal Sonic, who glanced over its shoulder, stepped out of the grappling hook's way, and grabbed onto the cable, it then yanked on the cable and forced Rookie over to it. Once Rookie was close enough Metal Sonic let go of the cable and punch Rookie into the ground next to the robot, the red Wolf groaned as he opened his eyes again only to be met with the sight of Metal Sonic's lifeless, and robotic red eyes staring down at him, it reached down and picked Rookie up by one of his combat pouches, it then lifted Rookie up into the air and pulled its other arm back preparing to stab its sharp fingers through Rookie's throat.

Matty spun around and took out a group of Egg Pawns with her Wispon, but as she spun she saw Rookie be picked up by Metal Sonic "NEWT!"

The Bear glanced over to Matty "What?!"

The Dog then pointed at Rookie "WE GOTTA SAVE HIM!"

Newt smashed her hammer through a cubed Pawn before attempting to run towards Rookie, but a different Egg Pawn reached out and grabbed onto her leg causing her to be tripped over by it. Matty tried to run over to Newt but a Buzz Bomber fired at her head and just barely missed her, only grazing the tip of one of her dyed bangs, as Matty backed away from the energy shot she bumped into an Egg Pawn who then grabbed onto her and threw her to the ground. Rookie tried to pulled Metal Sonic's hand off of his pouch but the hand wouldn't budge, then suddenly the robot's other arm made a clicking sound before it suddenly jabbed itself at Rookie's throat, he closed his eyes and tried to brace himself for the attack when suddenly he felt himself fall to the ground, Rookie opened his eyes and saw that Metal Sonic wasn't near him, instead it was on the ground a few feet away to Rookie's left, and Metal was missing an arm, Rookie looked down and saw that the missing arm was still gripped onto his pouch.

Suddenly something landed in front of Rookie, that something was blue, with red shoes, white gloves, and green eyes. Sonic reached his hand out to Rookie "Easy there! Everything's cool. I'm guessing you guys are here to rescue me?"

Rookie nodded as Sonic helped him stand up "Y- Yeah, we have."

Sonic grinned "Can't tell you how much I appreciate it, it's been awhile since I've seen a friendly face."

Rookie also grinned slightly "Same for me.. Oh! Listen we need to go help Matty and Newt, uh, the other two! Come on!"

Rookie then began to run towards Newt and Matty while Sonic turned around and began to follow him "You got it! Leave Metal to me!"

Sonic then boosted forwards and smashed into Metal Sonic. Rookie used his grappling hook to pull his Wispon over to him before pulling its trigger and destroying several robots, Newt picked up her Wispon and smashed an Egg Pawn's head in, while Rookie jumped up into the air and Wire Attacking the Egg Pawn that stood over Matty, the Dog and Bear both stood up as Sonic jumped up into the air and kicked Metal Sonic in the head. Rookie, Newt, and Matty all worked together to thin out the robot hoard while Sonic ducked underneath Metal Sonic's arm as it swiped past Sonic. The Hedgehog quickly jumped up and punched the back of Metal's head "Come on you pile of scrap! Show me what you got!"

The robot turned around and began to emit various angry beeps at Sonic, which only caused the Hedgehog to chuckle "Man! Did Egghead take your voice away again?"

Metal Sonic began to charge up its chest beam and Sonic, quickly, as well as suddenly, kicked Metal Sonic's chest reactor. The robot staggered backwards as its own energy core began to melt down, Sonic stepped away from Metal before its body began to convulse randomly and the robot exploded from the inside out, Sonic ran towards Rookie, Newt, and Matty as they took out the last of the robot hoard "Good job! I barely even know who you guys are, but you did awesome!"

Matty took her goggles off of her eyes and put them on top of her head before she pulled her bandana off of her mouth "Name's Matty! The Bear's Newt, and the Wolf's Rookie! We're apart of the Resistance and we're here to save you!"

Suddenly Matty's communicator went off and the voice of Sally came over it "Hey, you guys still in one piece?"

Matty nodded "Yeah we're good."

Sonic chuckled "Oh sure, don't even bother to ask how I am."

The voice of Sally then said "Sonic?! You're already here?! Uh, ahem, I may be happy that you're alive, but we have to get off of this facility as fast as we can. I can't get any kind of signal back to Resistance HQ, and I'm not getting any kind of signal from them."

Sonic nodded before the four of them began to run towards the shuttle, and as they ran Sonic said "Your concern is touching, lady."

Before he sped off towards the shuttle and the other three used their grappling hooks to quickly follow behind Sonic. They all entered the shuttle as its entrance slid close. As the four calmed down from the excitement of the previous series of events the voice of Sally came over the shuttle's PA system "Sonic, Rookie, Newt, Matty. I need you four up here on the bridge."

Sonic shrugged before he and the other three began to make their way up to the bridge. The doors of the bridge slid open and they entered the room, and at the same time Sally slammed her fist on top of a computer monitor "AGH! DANG IT!"

Sonic walked over to Sally "What's up?"

She sighed before looking over to Sonic "The engines won't start, and I can't even bring the shuttle's own artificial gravity online."

Sonic leaned against the chair Sally was sitting in "That can't be good. Have you tried rerouting the shuttle's electrical system so that the system is all kinds of confusing to Egghead."

Sally raised an eyebrow in confusion "How.. Do you know.. Know how to do that?"

Sonic shrugged "What? I can't be fast and smart? But for real, I built the original Tornado and took care of it so I know somethings about this kind of stuff."

Sally looked away from Sonic and began to reroute the shuttle's electrical system, just like Sonic said. Once she rerouted all of the systems the engines suddenly came to life and the shuttle began to take off. Sally looked over to Sonic, a surprised look on her face "Wow, that worked." Sonic chuckled slightly "Yeah it did, I was the one who came up with the idea." Sally rolled her eyes which caused Sonic to laugh. Rookie walked over to Sally and Sonic "Did Bunnie and Antoine make it aboard?" Sally nodded as the shuttle began to fly out of the hanger "Yes they did. The two of them are actually in the cargo bay, Antoine is nursing Bunnie's wounds right now." Matty walked over to them as well "What about Nicole?" Sally began to dug something out of her pant pocket while she said "She hasn't made it aboard yet, and I don't plan on leaving without here." she then pulled the something she was fishing around for, which was a communicator, and turned it on "Nicole, we're leaving, get back to the hanger now." there was a moment of static and what sounded like heavy breathing before the voice of Nicole came out of the communicator "No wait! I've got a plan!" Sally sighed "No, I'm not leaving without you!"

"Sally trust me. Fly the shuttle over to airlock nine, that's where I'm heading now."

Sally groaned before responding with "Fine.. Just be safe."

"No problem."

Nicole then turned off her communicator and Sally shoved hers into her pocket. The shuttle rocketed out of the hanger and began to circle around the Egg Station, Sonic suddenly tapped Sally's shoulder as he pointed out of the front window of the shuttle "There it is! Airlock nine!"

As Sally looked over to the airlock its doors slid open and everyone in the shuttle's bridge saw that Nicole was in the airlock. Sally grabbed onto the shuttle's controls "We're going to fast to stop in time, we're gonna have to slow down and circle back around."

Sonic began to make his way out of the bridge "Don't worry about the shuttle's speed, I got Nicole's entrance covered."

He then ran out of the bridge and towards the shuttle's entrance, Sally grumbled to herself as she turned the shuttle so that the entrance would be facing the open airlock. The shuttle's entrance door slid open as the shuttle began to approach the airlock, Sonic grabbed onto the side of the door and stuck his arm out of the door, then suddenly Nicole jumped out of the airlock and Sonic grabbed onto her arm before pulling her into the shuttle. Sonic lead Nicole into the bridge and Sally ran over to the Lynx "Nicole! Don't ever do that again!"

She then pulled Nicole into a hug and the Lynx returned it "I'm sorry but it was the only way I could get out without putting you guys in even more danger."

Sonic looked over to Nicole "Why would be in even more danger?"

Nicole and Sally let go of each other before Nicole answered "I helped you escape the Egg Station by messing with the facility's artificial gravity."

Sonic grinned "In that case, thank you. That was some experience I had out there!"

Suddenly, the shuttle began to slow down as its engines suddenly began to give out again, and at the same time a strange pulsating, and deep sound began to come over the PA system. Both Sonic and Rookie knew that sound, but Sonic was the only one to say "That sound again."

Sally ran over to one of the shuttle bridge's chairs and sat down on it. As Sally tried to turn the engine back on as she said "What's going on?"

Nicole ran over to Sally's side so that Nicole could inspect one of the monitors next to Sally "I don't know what's going on, but whatever is going on, its happening over there."

Nicole then pointed at a large empty space several hundred feet ahead of them, that sound began to grow louder, and louder until suddenly, in a bright flash of reddish orange light, that was so bright that it caused everyone to shield their eyes from the flash. And once they looked back out the shuttle's window, they saw that the massive, orbital battle station called the Death Egg had appeared in that empty space in front of the shuttle, Sonic yelled out "THE DEATH EGG?!"

He then ran over to Sally "GET US OUT OF HERE!"

Sally grabbed onto the shuttle's controls as Nicole turned the shuttle's engines back on, Sally then aimed the shuttle towards the Earth and rocketed towards it, at the same time Nicole yelled out "Wait! What about the Chaotix?! Did Espio make it out of the Egg Station?!"

Sally nodded "Yes they did! They had to get out of the facility before us so they could get Charmy's injuries treated."

Nicole let out a sigh of relief as the shuttle began the process of breaking through the planet's atmosphere.


	7. Return to Green Hill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic has escaped the Egg Gate with the help of the Special Forces, Rookie, Newt, and Matty just before the Death Egg appeared out of thin air. Once they're back on solid ground they must find their way back to the Resistance's base in Green Hill City, whilst meanwhile Tails and Blue are in search of the Resistance base in Green Hill Zone. Sadly, not everything can go right all the time. And it seems Eggman is taking interest in the interdimensional Sonic.

### Return to Green Hill

###### 5:48 P.M. Earth, over the Northern Isle, the Chemical Plant, the Space Port.

The shuttle that the Special Forces, Rookie, Sonic, Newt, and Matty were riding on broke through the atmosphere and began to flying down towards the Space Port. Even though the shuttle's artificial gravity was still functioning the shuttle still shook due to its reentry speed, and that shacking still affected the ship's crew, Rookie stumbled forwards slightly as he walked over to Sally and said "Were going back to the Chemical Plant?!"

Sally was trying her best to slow the shuttle's speed down which forced her to groan out an answer in between her clenched teeth "Yes, we are! The shuttle doesn't have landing gear, the only way we landed in the Egg Station was because of a magnetic lock in its hanger, and we can't land anywhere else on Earth because the Space Port is the only place on the planet that has high speed landing gear installed in its runways!"

Everyone in the bridge heard a loud crashing sound come from the shuttle's cargo hanger, which prompted Sonic to say "Do we even know what this thing was shipping?"

Sally shrugged slightly "I think it's just.. Maintenance stuff.. I think."

Nicole had a death grip on the back of Sally's chair and she had her other hand placed on top of her own stomach, trying hard to not puke "W- We don't s- seem to be s- slowing down!"

Sonic nodded "She's right, heck, we seem to be speeding up!"

Suddenly the shuttle broke the sound barrier as if the ship was trying to emphasize Sonic's point. Anyone that wasn't Sonic strained themselves to not pass out, or to not throw up on the spot. As for Sonic, he just had a grin on his face, as the shuttle began to get closer to a landing ramp and a massive magnetic clamp suddenly reached out to grab onto the underside of the ship, Sally gave up trying to slow the ship down and instead she yelled out "Brace for impact!"

Before the shuttle hit the ramp, the clamp grabbed onto the underside of it, and the shuttle began to head down the sloped ramp, not losing any speed as it did. Antoine, who was carrying Bunnie in his arms, narrowly dodged a falling cargo crate as the shuttle barreled down the landing ramp, they left the cargo bay and ran into the bridge, once they did the shuttle came to the end of the ramp and it quickly broke of the magnetic ramp and skid across the asphalt of the Space Port, Sonic quickly yelled out "We're gonna crash into the ocean!"

And just like he said the shuttle then broke through the tall chain link fence that surrounded the Space Port, and it skid across the snow covered beach before its front side crashed into the ocean. Due to the shuttle's own momentum and the sudden stop because of the crash into the ocean it lifted up into the air, and landed upside down. The shuttle began to sink down into the wet sand underneath it and water began to leak into the ship, Sally quickly disabled the shuttle's artificial gravity and everyone fell onto the ceiling below them, Sonic helped Antoine picked Bunnie back up before everyone began to run towards the shuttle's exit, Newt opened the shuttle's door and Sonic turned around to face the group "Okay we're gonna have to jump out one by one."

Everyone nodded before Sonic let Antoine jump out of the shuttle, Bunnie still in his arms, he landed in the cold ocean water and began to walk towards the beach, suddenly the ship shuttered as it sank deeper into the wet sand, next was Nicole who jumped out of the ship and once she landed in the water she puked into it, then Newt and Matty jumped out of the ship and began to run towards the beach while Nicole herself began to recover from her motion sickness and make her way over to the beach. Sonic faced Sally "You're up, uh, miss?"

"Sally Acorn."

She then jumped out of the ship and Sonic followed her. Once he landed in the ocean the ship let out a metallic groan before its front side was completely swallowed up by the wet sand, and the rest of it followed a moment latter, the only thing left sticking out from the ship was two of its own back engines. Sonic shivered slightly as he walked onto the beach and shook the water that was stuck to his legs off "Wow this is cold!"

Rookie was shivering much more than Sonic "I- I know r- right?!"

Meanwhile Sally was trying to get a message back to the Resistance "Knuckles? Amy? Do you read me?"

Nicole walked over to Sally and began to stare at the Chipmunk's communicator "Is it waterlogged?"

Sally brought the communicator up to her ear and shook it around "No, doesn't sound like it is."

She then took it away from her ear and tried to re-tune its radio signal when suddenly a staticy message from Knuckles came out of it "S- S- S- Special Forces. D- Do you c- c- c- come in?"

Sally grew a big smile "HA! Yes! Knuckles come in! This is Agent Prince, we've saved Sonic from the Egg Station and we're stranded at the Chemical Plant."

While she talked Sally continued to tune the radio signal which slowly got rid of the static in Knuckle' message "Sonic's still alive! That's the b- best new's I've heard all d- day!"

Sonic walked over to Sally and said "Yup, that's right Knux, I'm alive."

Then suddenly the voice of Amy came over the communicator "Sonic! I'm so glad!"

Knuckles sighed "Hold up Amy, we're all h- happy Sonic is alive. But He, as well as the Special Forces, are stranded on the Northern Isle."

Sally then said "Yes, we are, and we were hoping that you could send something to take us back to South Island."

"S- Sorry Sally but we can't spare a- any more t- transports right now."

Rookie suddenly spoke up "Wait! We came in on a boat, maybe its still here!"

Knuckles' voice then said "Rookie's r- right, maybe the boat i- is still there!"

Sonic began to walk away from the group "I'll go check around the place."

Before boosting away, kicking up snow covered, wet sand as he did. Nicole brushed the sand that had landed on her top of her head off when suddenly Sonic ran back over to the group "Boats still here.. Somehow."

The voice of Knuckles then said "Great! Hurry up and t- take the boat back so you c- can get S- Sonic out of danger fast!"

Sally nodded "Yes sir."

She then turned off the communicator and the group began to walk towards the front of the island. While they walked Matty snuggled herself into Newt in an attempt to warm herself up, Nicole picked small shells out of her fur, Sally readjusted some the bandages that was on her arms, Rookie cleaned off his glasses, Antoine continued to carry Bunnie in his arms when she suddenly said "You know Twan ah can still walk, it's just my arm that's injured."

Antoine nodded "I know that, but it is much safer for you to be carried in my arms."

Normally Bunnie would protest this kind of mentality but there was just something about Antoine that made her think differently, so instead she awkwardly crossed her arms over her chest, and while that was going on Sonic just casually whistled and rested his hands against the back of his head while they all walked on the beach, eventually they all reached the boat that had been used to transport Newt, Matty, Rookie, and the Chaotix to the Chemical Plant. Sonic waited outside of the ship while everyone got on board. Before Sally stepped onto the ship she looked over to Sonic and said "Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for helping Nicole back at the Egg Station. It meant a lot to me and her."

Sonic shrugged "It's what I do."

Sally nodded slightly as she grew a small smile and finally got on board the ship. Sonic looked into the boat "Everyone ready?"

The passengers all nodded before Sonic moved over to the front of the ship and put his hands on it "Hold on!"

He then used his speed to suddenly shove the ship off of the beach and into the water, everyone inside of the boat lurched backwards once they were shoved out into the sea, Sonic dusted his hands off before jumping up into the air and landing on the deck of the ship, he then walked below deck where he found the rest of the group "Anyone know how to drive a boat?"

Antoine set Bunnie down in a comfortable-ish chair before stepping forwards and saying "I know how to pilot a boat."

Sonic stepped out of the doorway before saying "Then the ship's all yours.. What- what is your name?"

As Antoine passed by Sonic he grinned cockily ever so slightly as he said "Antoine D'Coolette."

The Coyote then walked up the stairs and began to make his way to the ship's controls. Sonic sat down on a chair next to the doorway that lead to the stairs before saying "So, I know the names of the Bear, the Wolf, the Dog, and the Coyote. But I don't know you two's names."

He motioned at Nicole, and Bunnie before he began to bounce his leg up and down in place to burn off some excess energy. Nicole was the fist to say "My name is Nicole the Lynx."

Bunnie nodded "And my name's Bunnie Rabbough."

Sonic grinned slightly "It's nice to meat you guys."

And suddenly the ship lurched backwards as it began to sail away from the Northern Isle. A few minutes after they left the island Sonic yawned and stretched his arms out "If you guys wouldn't mind. I haven't had a proper nap since Egghead's goons defeated me back in the city."

Bunnie gasped slightly "You haven't slept since then? That was almost a year ago!"

Sonic chuckled slightly "Then I guess I better catch up on my Z's shouldn't I?"

He yawned again before bringing his arms up and putting them behind his head and closing his eyes, a moment latter Sonic fell asleep and began to snore slightly. Rookie inspected his Wispon for any kind of damage when suddenly Matty nudged his shoulder with her elbow "Hey, Rookie."

He looked over to her as she began to untie her bandana "Did you see the way Bunnie stared at Antoine back on the beach?"

Rookie shook his head "No, I wasn't paying much attention to them at the time."

Matty leaned over to Rookie and whispered to him "Let me just tell you, the way she was looking at him was the same way I looked at Newt during our first date."

Rookie furrowed his brow in confusion "What do you mean?"

Matty shrugged "It was like. A look of confusion, and awkwardness. But confusion and awkwardness that was born from love."

Rookie nodded slowly "Ooookay?"

Matty chuckled slightly as she leaned away from Rookie "It was just an interesting observation I made."

She then finally took off her bandana and tied it around her skirt belt. Once Matty untied her bandana it let Rookie see that she had a big scar on her neck "Whoa, Matty where did that come from?"

Matty sighed as she touched her scar "I got it a day or two after Eggman made it to Spagonia. I was running through the city trying my best to avoid those Egg Titans when I suddenly ran into that masked monster. To put it frankly and quickly, that monster attacked me, I was able to escape it with my life but as you can see. I suffered some damage."

Rookie swallowed a lump in his throat, he wasn't sure if he should tell them about his own encounter with that masked Jackal, if he did they might think he was a coward, that he was weak, but before he could make that decision Nicole suddenly screamed as she pulled a small crab out of her head fur. Sally grabbed onto the tiny crab and ran up to the deck of the ship and tossed it into the water, she let out a sigh of relief as she leaned against the deck's railing, a moment latter Sonic walked over to her and leaned against the section of railing next to Sally "Hey."

She didn't look at him but she did say "Hey."

There was a long moment of silence between the two of them, they just stared out at the open water, the at the orange tinted water of the setting sun, the ocean was the only part of the world that Eggman couldn't mess up majorly, other than dumping oil into it, but for some reason the Doctor hadn't done that yet. Suddenly Sally looked over to Sonic "Did Nicole's scream wake you up?"

Sonic nodded "Yeah, what was the deal with that?"

Sally grinned slightly before she giggled and said "She found a crab in her head fur.. And she isn't a big fan of crabs."

Sonic chuckled slightly "That's one weird fear."

Sally stared at Sonic a sly grin on her face "Says the guy who's afraid of water. The place crabs live in."

Sonic shook his head "I may be scared of water but I have a reason for it. We Hedgehogs have trouble with water, our quills get really soggy and heavy so it weighs us down, and as for me, my shoes tend to get really stiff when they get really wet so it makes swimming hard."

Sally nodded "That's a better reason for being scared of water than Nicole's reason for being scared of crabs."

Sonic raised an eyebrow in confusion "What's her reason?"

Sally sighed "When she was younger she saw a Yeti Crab."

Sonic nodded "Eh, it's a good enough reason for me."

Sally also nodded before they both stared out at the open waters again. After several silent minutes Sonic asked Sally "How'd you meet Nicole, and how do you know so much about here?"

Sally grinned again before saying "When I was younger my parents sent me to a private school, I didn't really like it there, place was to stuffy for my liking. But about the only breath of fresh air I got there was Nicole, we became close friends fast, and we've been friends ever since."

Sonic nodded "That's kinda like how I met Tails."

Sally looked over to Sonic "Really?"

He nodded "Yeah, after my first adventure my life felt stuffy. I just couldn't find any exciting action anywhere, so when I heard the news that a young Fox went missing on West Side Island I went looking for him there. Which is when I met Tails, that little guy was my breath of fresh air for my adventures."

Sally smiled warmly at Sonic "Looks like we're not so different."

Sonic nodded "It sure does seem that way."

The two then continued to stare at the ocean and every so often they'd talk to each other over various things, but it was never really anything important, just fluffy, warn and fun happy stuff that gave the needed boost to Sally's spirits for he to let more hope into her heart, the hope that they could actually win this war.

###### 5:49 P.M. South Island, Green Hill Zone.

Blue and Tails walked along a checkerboard pathway silently when suddenly Blue looked over to Tails and said "If you wouldn't mind telling me, how'd your me get defeated?"

Tails' face soured suddenly and Blue felt a small pit form in his stomach. But Tails still answered "It was just a normal day. Eggman was launching an attack on a small country, and Sonic tired to stop him. But... But... Something happened. It was my fault, I told Sonic to come to the city and help take down Eggman, but.. It was my fault, I failed Sonic. My Sonic. And Eggman's monster got him."

Blue stepped in front of Tails and stopped him "Tails, don't beat yourself up over that, sure you may have asked your Sonic to head into the city, and sure whatever Egghead made took him down. But it isn't your fault, if Eggman really has something strong enough to kill a Sonic, he was going to use it no matter where he was. It's not your fault."

Tails nodded as he whipped tears out of his eyes "Y- Yeah. It's not my fault... But now you're here! It's almost like the world needs a Sonic, any Sonic, to keep things in balance. And if we're able to defeat Eggman this war will be over!"

Blue grinned "Yeah! That's the way you should be thinking Tails!"

The Fox grinned widely "Yeah, and if we can figure out the secret to Eggman's power, we might even be able to send you home!"

Blue nodded and grew a big smile "Then let's hurry up and find that base!"

He then turned around and ran farther into the Zone, Tails quickly ran after Blue, using his twin tails to give him a big boost of speed. While Blue ran through the Zone Tails spoke over the Hedgehog's earpiece "Let's see... The base should be near the Mega-Loop. This area is still relatively undamaged but I'm pretty sure there's still some enemies around here."

Blue jumped up into the air and said "Then we better keep our guards up!"

Once he hit the ground he quickly sped off into his Drop Dash. As he rolled across the green grass of the Zone he quickly cut right through a lone Moto Bug that had appeared in front of them before jumping up and returning to a normal run, Tails managed to catch up with Blue and say "Wow! What was that?"

Blue looked over to Tails "What? Your Sonic can't do a Drop Dash?"

Tails shook his head and Blue continued "Alright then. It's a move I came up with after the final Death Egg launch."

Tails nodded when suddenly the two crossed over a wooden bridge that sat over a rushing river, they ran across the bridge when suddenly a Chopper lunged out of the river and burst through the bridge in front of the two. Blue quickly jumped up and crashed through the robot when suddenly another Chopper burst out of the bridge behind Tails, but the Fox was able to quickly spin around and take the robot out with his tails, the two continued forwards, and they both run through a small loop and once they got off of the loop Blue skid to a halt when the section of ground underneath him began to shudder.

Suddenly that patch of ground burst upwards. Blue staggered slightly to try and keep himself on the chunk of land "Tails! What's going on here!?"

Tails inspected the chunk of ground before yelling out a response "It's being lifted up by a jet of sand!"

Blue quickly jumped off of the chunk of ground and suddenly a separate chunk of ground burst upwards and he landed on that "Oh come on!"

He jumped off of that chunk and the same thing happened again "Why?!"

Sonic jumped off of the chunk of ground and unlike last time he was actually able to land on the normal ground. Tails ran over to Blue and the Hedgehog said "I can't be the only one that thinks the ground was trying to keep me away from itself."

Tails shrugged "There's probably a scientific explanation for that thought."

Sonic rolled his eyes and the two returned to running towards the base, they ran across a wooden bridge and at the halfway point the bridge shuddered and the ropes suddenly snapped. The bridge gave-way underneath Blue and he fell into a large cavern, but Tails was able to jump up into the air and fly over to a safe and stable part of ground in front of where the bridge once was, Tails looked over the edge of the ground and down into the cavern "Blue! Are you alright?!"

The Hedgehog picked himself off of the checkerboard stone he had landed on and brushed himself off "Yeah I'm fine! Give me a second and I'll be outta here!"

He then sped forwards and headed deeper into the cavern. Sadly the cavern didn't have an actual entrance or exit. So instead he came to a dead end that was curved upwards, Blue scratched his chin as he came up with a plan, he curled up into ball and charged up his Spin Dash before blasting off towards the cavern wall, he spend up the wall and burst out of its ceiling behind Tails, the Fox ran over to Blue "That was quick!"

Blue grinned "Of course it was quick! I'm a Sonic after all."

The two then returned to running and as they did Blue looked over to his left and saw a massive sea of nothing but sand "Strange. I see desert over there."

Blue looked over to Tails "This is Green Hill, right?"

Tails nodded and Blue continued "Something's wrong. What did your Eggman do to this place?"

Tails sighed "Eggman was able to divert the Zone's entire water supply to his own bases in the area. That's what made the Green Hill Desert."

Blue nodded when suddenly they both saw a massive line of Egg Pawns standing in front of them. Blue quickly jumped up and sped off into his Drop Dash taking out the Egg Pawns with said move and once he did that he came out of his Spin Ball and let Tails catch up, they both looked ahead of themselves and saw that they had reached a large cliff that they could've passed over if Blue hadn't glanced over his shoulder and said to Tails "Follow my lead!"

He then curled up into a Spin Dash and burrowed through the cliff face, and Tails followed after him. The two burst out of the other side of the cliff and just as quickly they burrowed through a different cliff face. Once the other two burst out of that cliff they uncurled from their Spin Balls and stood up, Tails coughed slightly before saying "That was really something else, wasn't it?"

Blue shrugged "You gotta remember Tails, according to my timeline, just last year I traveled around Angel Island via cannons, tunnels, teleporters, and burrowing so it's pretty recent to me."

Tails chuckled slightly "Yeah I guess so."

The two then dusted themselves off and continued to run forwards. They ran across a large bridge that stretched over a river of rushing sand when suddenly the bridge began to collapse behind them and Choppers jumped out of the sand underneath them, the two picked up their paces and Tails yelled out "The base should be close!"

Blue looked over his shoulder "How can you tell?"

Tails then pointed to the top of a mountain next to them, Blue looked up and saw a massive loop at the very top of it "That's the Mega-Loop? THAT THING IS AWESOME!"

The two then stepped off of the bridge and onto a safe patch of ground right as the final log of the wooden bridge fell into the sand underneath it. The two ran through the Zone and suddenly they came to a stop in front of the burning ruins of a wooden shack. Tails ran over to the ruins "The base! What happened to it!?"

Blue followed after Tails "My money's on Egghead."

Tails flew up into the air and landed in the burning ruins, he tried to put out as many fires as he could so he could search through the ruins and Blue tried his best to help Tails, but sadly they just couldn't put out as many of the fires as they needed to. Something caught Tails' attention out of the corner of his eye, that something was a tablet covered in ash and wood chips, he dug it out of the pile of debris and held it up it looked relatively undamaged, so he turned it on and saw that it had the entirety of the base's camera system's database download onto it, Blue walked over to Tails as the Fox fond the most recent video and played it, while the two watched the beginning of the video they left the burning ruins and once they did Tails got down onto one knee so Blue could see it better.

The first two hours of the video just showed various soldiers going about their daily routines in the base, but at the third hour, a hole was blasted in the roof and that masked monster floated into the base, the soldiers in the building tried to fight against the figure but it quickly disarmed them and it suddenly did something that caused the camera to cut out, and that's where the video ended. Tails turned off the tablet and said "Looks like you're right, it was Eggman."

Blue scratched the side of his head "Was that the thing that took down your Sonic?"

Tails nodded "It sure does look scary, but I still haven't seen any kind of evidence that says it can kill a Sonic... Uh, not that I'm saying you're lying to me or anything, I'm just- I guess I was just speaking with my ego, and not with my mouth."

Tails gave Blue a reassuring grin "It's fine you already act like Sonic when I first met him so I know what you're like."

Blue nodded "Good, now then. What do we do now?"

Tails put the tablet down in the grass before standing up and thinking. Luckily it only took Tails a few seconds to come up with a plan "I know! I built a landing strip on a mountain not to far away from here! And the old Tornado should still be there! If we head up to that mountain we can fly over to the Resistance base in the Mystic Jungle and regroup with them there!"

Blue put his hands on his hips before saying "Sounds like a plan, let's get moving!"

Tails nodded and he lifted himself up into the air and began to lead Blue towards a large mountain that sat off to the left of the ruins of the Green Hill base, but unknown to them the whole time they were there a small metal device began to silently beep once they arrived, and continued to do so even after they left, that device had scanned Blue and it had sent its findings back to Eggman who was in one of his secret bases. Orbot hovered over to Eggman while the Doctor inspected various screens that showed him various Resistance heavy locations around the world, once Orbot reached Eggman it said "Boss, you've received a report from one of your spy drones in Green Hill."

Eggman looked over to his circular robot "What kind of report has it sent me?"

Orbot lifted up and began to transfer the report into the multi-monitor computer Eggman was standing in front of, once the report was completely downloaded Eggman began to read it "...That.. That can't be right."

Orbot looked over to its master "What's not right?"

Eggman began to play around with his mustache will he said "That drone scanned some sort of living organism that has the same brain wavelengths as the Phantom Ruby's own energy wavelengths... Orbot! Ready my Egg Mobile, first thing tomorrow we're going to Green Hill and we're going to find that creature."

He then began to walk away from Orbot and the computer as he silently said to himself "If my hypothesis is true the reason for that organism's brain wavelengths being so similar to the Phantom Ruby's wavelengths is because the creature is inter-dimensional. Ugh, I'm fed up with dimensional shenanigans, so once I do find that creature, I'll crush it and hope nothing else follows after it through the Multiverse."

He then left the room he was in and began to make his way towards his living quarters in the base.


	8. Destroy the Arsenal Pyramid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Sonic now reunited with his friends and apart of the Resistance, it's time for them to strike back against Eggman and his army. Luckily, Knuckles has just the idea of how to get that done. Let's just hope Rookie can handle Sonic's speed and ego.

### Destroy the Arsenal Pyramid

###### 6:18 P.M. Green Hill City, Resistance Base.

Rookie, Newt, and Matty lead Sonic through the brick hallways of the underground base and towards the briefing room. The door slid open and the four of them walked into the room, once they did Sonic was immediately captured into a tight hug from Amy "SONIC! I'M! SO! HAPPY!"

Sonic nodded as he struggled to breath "H- Hey Amy, I- I'm happy t- to be a- alive too, but, I. Can't. Breeeeaaaaath!"

Amy immediately let go of Sonic stepped away from Sonic, and said all at once "I'msosorryIdidn'tmeantobutI'mjustsohappy!"

Sonic grinned slightly as he took in a deep breath "It's okay Amy."

Suddenly Knuckles walked over to Sonic, a grin on his face as well "Sonic, finding you alive is the best news we've had in a year."

But Knuckles sighed and continued bitterly "And here's the bad news. Our intel indicates Eggman's got a weapon factory in Green Hill, its pumping out munitions for his war effort."

Matty suddenly spoke up "A factory? We can't ever hope to take out Eggman's home base in the Metropolis if he's got a factory supplying him."

Knuckles nodded "No kidding. Look, Sonic. I know that you just got back but we're spread thin. Do you think you can take care of this?"

Sonic nodded and Knuckles continued with a hopeful grin on his face "We need that factory in Green Hill destroyed. Take Rookie with you."

Suddenly one of the side doors slid open and Vector walked into the room, and he had heard the whole conversation so he just suddenly jumped in "You sure about this? From what I've heard from Espio the kid was shaking like a leaf the whole time he was on the Egg Station."

Sonic walked over to Rookie "Well that's because its really cold in space, but it should be nice and warm in the factory. Ain't that right Rookie?"

The red Wolf nodded as Knuckles said "It will be when it's burnt to the ground! Sonic you take the lead. Rookie, just make sure you take some good notes."

Sonic popped his knuckles while he said "I've got a year of payback I'm just dying to spend. And this sounds like a good start!"

Knuckles nodded and Sonic as well as Rookie both started to walk out of the room, but before Sonic left he said "Oh, and Knuckles. Egghead's rebuilt the Death Egg, it's hanging over our heads right now. The SF, Matty, and Newt should be able to fill you in. K' see ya'!"

He then finally left the room and Knuckles looked over to Newt and Matty a look of disbelief, but the two just nodded in agreeing with Sonic and Knuckles sighed before they explained the situation Sonic mentioned.

###### 6:22 P.M. Green Hill Zone, Out Side of the Arsenal Pyramid.

Sonic ran along side Rookie at a speed that allowed the Hedgehog to stay at the same speed as Rookie. The two ran across a pathway covered in dead grass that was also covered in sand, as they turned a corner and they both saw the massive sandstone pyramid to their right come into view, at the same time the voice of Knuckles came over the two's earpieces "The enemy's factory is inside of the pyramid. I can send in the Special Forces if you don't think you can handle it."

Sonic shook his head "No need! The two of us are more than enough! We'll blitz the place and open up a path for the Resistance."

He looked over to Rookie before saying "Right partner?"

Rookie nodded when suddenly Sonic boosted forwards and headed straight towards a metal bridge that stretched over a rushing river of sand. Rookie's eyes widened in shock as Sonic boosted away, Rookie jumped up into the air and used his grappling hook to chase after Sonic and as the Hedgehog ran across the metal bridge it began to lower in an attempt to prevent Sonic from reaching the other side, luckily Sonic was able to jump off of the bridge and landed on the other side and Rookie landed next to him "Y- You just left me back there!"

Sonic rubbed the back of his head and said "Sorry, it's been awhile since I've worked alongside anyone."

Rookie sighed when suddenly several Egg Pawns began to stomp towards them. Rookie stepped in front of Sonic and used his Wispon to take out the robots. Sonic and Rookie began to run forwards while Sonic said "That was awesome!"

Rookie grinned at them when suddenly the two ran across a metal pipe that suddenly came to a stop in front of them, Rookie grappled onto a pole over to the two's right before he grabbed onto Sonic's arm and the two then drifted across the top of the pipe before they jumped off of it and landed in a testing range for weaponry. Right as they landed hundreds of Egg Pawns all began to fire at them forcing them to hide behind a metal target, Rookie looked at his Wispon then over to Sonic "What are we gonna do?! I- I can't take on that many robots at once!"

Sonic silently thought to himself, he had to come up with a plan, he had to figure a way out of the jam they were stuck in, when suddenly Sonic grew a confident grin "Then it looks like its time for the two of us to team up!"

Rookie was confused, he wasn't sure what Sonic meant when suddenly he grabbed onto Rookie's arm and pulled him out into the open alongside himself "It doesn't matter what obstacles they put in our way. We'll blow past everything they throw at us!"

He began to run forwards dragging Rookie alongside him, Sonic then let go of Rookie's arm and grabbed onto his hand, the two continued to speed up, getting faster, and faster, and faster, when suddenly Sonic yelled out "DOUBLE BOOST!"

Then suddenly the two blasted forwards and crashed right through the hundreds of Egg Pawns that stood in front of them. The continued to boost forwards plowing right through anything that stood in their way, whether it be Egg Pawns, or Buzz Bombers. They then suddenly reached the front of the Pyramid and began to scale it, Sonic looked over to Rookie "Yeah! That's how it's done!"

While he spoke Buzz Bombers attempted to stop them but much like the other robots Rookie and Sonic crashed right through them all the while Sonic continued "We've got unstoppable speed and timing! We just have to keep this up!"

Suddenly the two reached the top of the Arsenal Pyramid and jumped high up into the air. Sonic then said into his communicator "Bingo! Found a way in!"

He was staring right at a large opening in the top of the Pyramid and the two began to skydive right into it, while they flew through the opening the voice of Amy came over their earpieces "You should be able to get into the factory through there. But please, stay alert!"

Sonic and Rookie both saw purple lasers began to appear in front of them which caused them to have two different reactions. Rookie reacted with a gasp of fear, but Sonic reacted with a slight chuckle and he said "Heh. This should be fun."

They both continued to skydive through the opening dodging lasers at ever turn, Sonic spun around in the air and Stomped onto the ground, he looked up and saw that Rookie was still falling, Sonic held out his arms and caught Rookie and helped him to stand up right before they both continued forwards into the Pyramid. Egg Pawns turned around and were immediately met with the soles of Sonic and Rookie's shoes. As they ran across a metal catwalk that stretched over a massive manufacturing plant filled with people that were making weapons for Eggman, once Sonic saw that sight he said "So they're building weapons here huh? Making everyone work like robots. It'll be Eggman's turn to get pushed around when I get ahold of him."

Suddenly Egg Pawns fell from the ceiling and landed in front of Sonic and Rookie on the catwalk, Sonic boosted forwards and crashed right through the robots freeing up their path, but as he boosted towards the last Egg Pawn it aimed its blaster arm the catwalk supports and fired at them. The energy shot cut through some of the supports and the catwalk suddenly dropped to the side and threw Rookie and Sonic off of it, the two then landed on a massive metal cogwheel and an entire ring of Egg Pawns fell from the ceiling and surrounded the two, Rookie quickly pulled his Wispon's trigger and spun around taking out the ring of Pawns that surrounded them while Sonic picked himself up off of the metal ground "Ow, should've seen that coming."

As he stood up a cogwheel behind them lowered down and the two both saw that if they jumped up onto it they'd be able to get onto a safe pathway, Rookie used his grappling hook to swing himself over to the safe path and Sonic jumped from the wheel he was standing on, then onto the one that had lowered down just before he joined Rookie on the pathway. The path zigged and zagged in front of them so whenever they came to a sharp turn Rookie used his grappling hook to drift together past those turns. While Rookie took the lower path, Sonic jumped up onto another catwalk and ran across it, the two took out any robots that stood in their way as they continued forwards and suddenly Rookie grappled up to Sonic's catwalk and the two continued on wards together. Sonic and Rookie jumped off of the catwalk and landed on the ground below, Sonic quickly spun around and boosted forwards taking out a group of Egg Pawns that had gathered in front of them, Sonic waited for Rookie to run over before the two jumped down the shaft of a lift and while they fell Sonic said "That was a cakewalk!"

And once they landed the voice of Amy came over their communicators "I don't even know why I was worried."

The two ran across a catwalk that stretched over a giant room filled with massive weapons of mass destruction, from giant bombs, to inactive robots. Sonic and Rookie skid to a halt in the middle of the catwalk and looked over the massive manufacturing plant underneath them, Sonic looked over to Rookie "So how are we gonna light this place's fuse?"

Rookie looked at his Wispon "Maybe, we can.. Set off those bombs and take this place out in a big chain reaction."

Sonic shook his head "No that's not gonna work, that could put those poor prisoners in danger.. But maybe one of the bombs has a timer we can set on it, then we can evacuate those prisoners and take the place out at the same time!"

Rookie nodded "Yeah! That's a good plan!"

Sonic grinned slightly before they stood there silently for a moment. After a moment of awkward silence Sonic said "So... Who's gonna set that timer, and who's gonna get the prisoners out of here?"

Rookie then said "I'll deal with the timer, you're faster than me so if you evacuate the prisoners while I set the timer there won't be a threat of something bad happening."

Sonic nodded before he began to head back towards the lift "You got it!"

Rookie nodded before he climbed over the side of the catwalk and jumped down to the manufacturing plant bellow. He quickly used his grappling hook to slow his fall and he safely landed on the ground before running over to a bomb that wasn't stuck on a giant conveyor belt, he inspected the outside shell of the stationary bomb and he eventually found a panel at the back of it, Rookie opened up the panel and began to set the timer for when it should detonate "Uh... Three minutes should do, right?"

He then finished imputing the time before grappling up to the catwalk and running back towards the lift. As he stepped onto the lift and it began to head upwards the Pyramid was filled with sound of blaring sirens as robots scrambled around to stop Sonic and to disarm the bomb before it was too late, once the lift reached its destination Rookie ran out of it and over to Sonic who was standing next to a hole in the Pyramid's wall that he had made, he was ushering the prisoners out of the Pyramid and once Rookie reached Sonic he said "The timer's been set! Let's get out of here!"

Sonic nodded as the last prisoner climbed through the hole and the other two followed after them. Sonic, Rookie, and the escaped prisoners all ran from the Pyramid as fast as they could, of course Sonic wasn't going as fast as he could, he had to make sure to help anyone that might've found some difficulty running, and once they were a safe enough distance from the Pyramid Sonic and Rookie turned around and watched as the Pyramid suddenly exploded, the sound of the blast rolled through the valley and scraps of metal from various different things flew through the air. Sonic patted Rookie on his back "Good job buddy. Now let's get back to the Resistance."

Rookie nodded before they both turned around and came face to face with a yellow furred Rabbit who said "But where are we supposed to go?"

Sonic sighed "Honestly, there really isn't a safe place around here anymore, so I don't really know. Maybe you can find someplace to hide here in Green Hill, but I honestly don't know."

The Rabbit nodded sadly before Rookie suddenly said "Eggman's forces have left Marble Hill Zone! That might be a good place to hide."

The Rabbit nodded and smiled before spinning back around and running over to the rest of the prisoners to tell them the good news.

###### 6:04 P.M. Green Hill, Tails' Old Airstrip.

Tails let go of Blue and he landed on the old asphalt runway before Tails landed next to him. The two then began to walk towards the metal hanger that was built into the side of the mountain, while they walked Blue looked over to Tails "How dusty is this place gonna be?"

Tails shrugged "I haven't been here in years so I don't really know."

The then reached the metal doors of the hanger and the two worked together to open them. Blue walked into the hanger and saw that it was littered with incomplete projects, old wooden crates and planks, as well as various bits and pieces that would've once been used to replace other bits and pieces from the Tornado, but what caught Blue's eye was in the middle of the hanger there was some sort of object covered in an old white tarp. Blue pointed to the tarp covered object "What's that thing?"

Tails looked over to the object and he was filled with a sense of giddy excitement, he ran over to the tarp covered object and quickly pulled it off of the object revealing it to be "The original Tornado!"

As the tarp slid off of the old plane it made the propellers spin around, Blue stared at the pealing and weathered paint that tried its hardest to cling to the metal of the plane "Wow, it's only felt like a few days since I last so it, but.. Man.. Just.. That's all I can say, just wow."

Tails nodded "Yeah, I thought I had this thing moved to one of my other workshops but its still here!"

Blue walked over to the plane and ran his hand along its side "Why does it smell like my dirty old socks?"

Tails sniffed the plane and immediately regretted his decision "Agh! I shouldn't have done that!"

Blue laughed slightly before jumping up onto the metal wing of the biplane "So, we gonna use this to fly over to the.. Mystic.. Whatever."

Tails nodded before he climbed into the Tornado's pilot seat and turning its engine on. But nothing happened, Tails tried again, but it nothing happened still. Blue hopped off of the plane and Tails climbed out of the pilot's seat "I don't understand why it won't start."

Blue then popped open a hatch that lead to the plane's engine, Blue inspected the engine for a moment before saying "It doesn't have any gas in it."

Tails sighed "Great.. And this place doesn't have any stray cans of oil lying around so we can't just fuel it back up."

Blue nodded as he closed the hatch and faced Tails "There's nothing else we can do?"

Tails thought about it for a moment before snapping his fingers "Oh I got it! If we replace the engine with a Chaos powered engine we might be able to have it charged up by morning!"

Blue glanced over to the plane for a moment before saying "Is that even possible?"

Tails nodded as he began to make his way over to an old workbench "It should, I honestly don't see a reason why it shouldn't."

He then sat down on a dusty leather stool and spun around so he could face Blue "But I'm gonna need your help."

Blue nodded "I'm at your service."

Tails grinned before saying "Okay I need you to get me, a wrench, a screwdriver, a hammer just in case. And if you see a glass cylinder that has a crystal inside of it, give that to me as well."

Blue nodded again before speeding off and collecting all of the things Tails asked him to get. As Blue zipped around gathering tools he eventually passed by an old crate and heard a low hum come from it, he skid to a halt before setting the tools he had in his hands on the ground and walking over to the crate, he slid the crate's lid off and stared into the crate, inside of the crate there was a glass cylinder that had a green crystal in it and it was glowing and humming slightly, Blue picked up the cylinder and stared at it, whatever it was, it vibrated as it hummed. Blue ran back over to Tails and put the tools as well as that cylinder on top of the bench "There you go."

Tails grabbed onto one of the wrenches before pulling open a drawer and saying "Thanks, this shouldn't take too long."

Blue nodded before he walked back over to the Tornado and jumped up onto the wing. He then sat down on it and watched as Tails put together a much small engine for the Tornado, after maybe half an hour or so Tails slid the cylinder into the engine and picked it up, he struggled slightly to get off of the stool while still holding onto the engine "H- Hey Blue. Can you r- remove the old engine f- for me?"

Blue nodded before he jumped off of the Tornado's wing and opened up the hatch that lead to the engine. Blue stuck his hands into the insides of the plane and, after a moment of probing around the inside of it, he was able to remove the engine and set it down next to the plane, Tails then installed the Chaos powered engine before running over to the side of the plane and jumping back into the pilot's seat, he then turned on the plane's ignition and after a few more attempts at turning it on the engine sputtered and suddenly it began to emit a deep humming sound as the front of the plane began to vibrate. Tails hopped out of the pilot's seat and walked over to Blue "Now all we have to do is wait for it to charge up and we'll be ready to go."

Blue nodded "Great!... Does this place even have beds we can sleep on?"

Tails glanced around the hanger before saying "Uh... I can't exactly remember if it does or doesn't."

Blue sighed "That's fine, I can sleep on the Tornado's wing, and you can take the nice and comfy leather seat."

Tails nodded before the two climbed onto the Tornado and got into their sleeping positions, and after a minute or two of waiting, they both fell asleep while the engine continued to charge up.


	9. Mystic Jungle, Mystic Trouble

### Mystic Jungle, Mystic Trouble

###### 6:32 P.M. West Side Island, Mystic Jungle.

Sonic ran through the glowing forest of the Jungle heading towards the last place a squad of missing soldiers reported in at. Amy had ordered Sonic to head into the Mystic Jungle and look for the soldiers, as well as figure out the source of a strange energy source in that area and to also deal with that dude that was able to take down Sonic last year, Sonic looked over to his left and saw that he was running alongside a canyon that had a beautiful crystal clear river flowing through it, but on the other side of the canyon there were was an entire section of forest that was on fire, as Sonic continued to run forwards the voice of Knuckles came over Sonic's earpiece "Eggman's forces are scattering bombs like confetti!"

Then the voice of Amy also came over the earpiece and sadly said "We can't go on like this!"

As Sonic began to approach the ruins of an ancient city he boosted forwards taking out a gathering of Egg Pawns along the way, at the same time Sonic said "The whole place is going up in flames. Those bombs aren't the kinds of fireworks I like to see, and that fire isn't the kind of blaze I like to see either."

Sonic then ran across a stone bridge that had various pillars lining it, each of the pillars had neon decorations wrapped around it that looked like the kind of thing you'd see at a casino. Eventually Sonic entered the ruins ancient city of an unknown civilization lost to the sands of time. He looked over to his left and saw that the city sat next to a lake, and sitting on an island in the middle of the lake there was an ancient palace covered in neon decorations "Why does Eggman love to turn stuff that shouldn't be casinos, into casinos?"

Sonic then returned his eyes forwards as Egg Pawns attempted to attack him, he boosted through those robots he then jumped up and landed on the roof of a temple and ran across it, once he reached the end of the roof he jumped off of it and Stomped onto the ground, he then boosted forwards when suddenly the ground underneath him became to shudder. He quickly jumped up before the stone pathway collapsed and took out various pillars standing next to it as well, Sonic soared through the air and over another canyon when he saw lying in front of him was the massive hollowed out log of a tree, a really big tree from the looks of it too, Sonic landed in the hallowed out log and began to run through it, the log bent to the right slightly so Sonic turned the corner slightly and saw various robots all standing inside of the log in front of him, among those robots there were Egg Pawns and the purple, long legged, Egg Walkers.

Sonic boosted forwards and continued to run through the log, taking out any robots that got in his way. Suddenly the log came to an end and Sonic jumped up into the air, there was a small gap in between the end of the log and the next patch of land, luckily hovering over that gap was several redesigned Nebula, Sonic homing attacked the ones that'd get him to the other side and once he had accomplished that he landed on the ground and ran through a stone tunnel, as he ran Buzz Bombers and Valkeens flew over head and tried to shot at him from the air, luckily he boosted and the flying robots weren't able to keep up with him. As he left the tunnel the staticy voice of one of the missing soldiers came over his communicator "W- W- W- We're doomed! We c- c- c- can't hold o- o- o- out any lon- lon- longer!"

Sonic quickly said into his communicator "You've done plenty!"

In an attempt to comfort the terrified soldier, sadly Sonic didn't know if the soldier could hear him, and even if the soldier could hear Sonic, that soldier might've been so scared that he didn't even listen to Sonic. As he continued to boost forwards the voice of Amy came over his communicator "I've located the enemy, and the energy source. They're in the ruins up ahead."

Sonic smiled as he realized he's getting even closer to getting a second round with that masked jerk "Great Amy! I'll make sure everyone's efforts weren't in vain!"

Sonic then jumped up into the air in an attempt to avoid running through a not-so-deep, and not-so-wide valley. As he flew through the air the voice of Amy suddenly came over his communicator "Unidentified life from on the radar!"

The ground below Sonic began to shake as something began to burrow its way above ground "Something from the jungle!?"

When suddenly a massive snake burst out of the ground in front of Sonic. It stared right at the flying Hedgehog and opened its mouth to try and snatch him out of the air, the two quickly inched closer and closer, but Sonic had to wait for the right moment and suddenly that moment showed itself, Sonic quickly thrust his hand out and he grabbed onto the snake's nose, he quickly pulled himself up onto its face and began to run down its backside all the while saying to himself "I guess all the explosions riled it up."

Sonic sighed sadly "Doesn't look like I'll get past without a fight."

But suddenly the snake flicked its tail upwards and sent Sonic flying up into the air, then suddenly the snake's head lunged at Sonic and the Hedgehog was quickly enveloped by the snake's mouth and swallowed down its throat. The snake let out a sigh of satisfaction when suddenly Sonic said from inside of its neck said "You're so gonna regret that! Hedgehogs don't make good snacks."

The snake let out a roar of pain as Sonic pulled into his Spin Ball before crashing around the insides of the snake's throat, eventually the snake spat Sonic out of its neck and sent him flying, and as he soared through the air the saliva that he was covered in dried off of before he landed on the ground and ran into the ruins where that energy source was, and that jerk too.

###### 6:34 P.M. Mystic Jungle, Resistance Base in the Ruins.

The masked Jackal was hovering off of the ground, he looked over the cowering soldiers that laid on the ground in front of him. He shook his head slightly "Pathetic, you plan on destroying Eggman's Empire. While you can't even face me without trembling? Heheh, how weak can you be?"

Suddenly some of their faces brightened up as something appeared behind them, the Jackal looked over his shoulder and saw a cyan glow "You again.. I thought I lost you in the jungle. Well, this wasn't part of my agenda, but I'm always happy to crush a hero."

The Jackal chuckled slightly "It keeps the rabble in line. Shows them that there is no hope."

The Jackal then turned around fully and faced the white hedgehog, with amber eyes, a large tuft of chest hair, blue boots, white gloves, and surrounded by a cyan glow, according to Eggman the white Hedgehog's name is Silver, and he was hovering off of the ground at the same height as the Jackal. Silver glared at the Jackal "Does anyone but you believe your lies?"

The Jackal then suddenly flew towards Silver in an attempt to crash into him, but Silver was able to dodge the attack and the two began to chase after each other in the air and at the same time those soldiers began to run from them, suddenly the Jackal turned around and smashed into Silver. The two bounced off of each other while Silver saw something fell out of the Jackal's hand out of the corner of his eye but suddenly the Jackal charged towards Silver again and the two were locked back into battle. Silver ducked underneath the Jackal but suddenly the masked monster spun around in the air and kicked Silver's face. The forced of the kick caused Silver to be launched backwards and into a stone wall, as he fell to the ground bellow him his cyan aura left his body and once he hit the ground the Jackal said "Seeing is believing."

He then clenched his fist and charged towards Silver, when suddenly a blue sphere crashed into the Jackal and shoved him away from Silver. Sonic landed on the ground in front of Silver and said "Time to tag Silver! I've got it from here!"

Sonic glanced over his shoulder and saw Silver begin to pick himself up off of the ground "Keep those soldiers safe."

Silver nodded and coughed slightly, Sonic looked away from the white Hedgehog as he coughed a tooth out of his mouth before Silver ran towards the escaping soldiers. The Jackal glared down at Sonic "Well, look who's back from the dead. The little blue savior."

He then crossed his arms over his chest and placed one of his hands on his mask "But what's that I smell? You reek of fear. Glad to see I left an impression."

Sonic smelled himself before saying "That's not fear. I ran all the way over here. And you haven't left an impression on me. I don't even know anything about you! Not even your name!"

The Jackal readjusted his mask before taking his hand off of his helmet "You may call me... Infinite. In the brief moments that remain to you."

Sonic grinned "Great! See Infinite, now we're getting to know each other!"

He then began to pace back and forth in front of Infinite "So, what's your favorite color? Do you like long romantic walks on the beach? What's the source of your power? You can skip the first two questions if you like."

Infinite shook his head "The source of my power is none of your concern."

Sonic eyed the gemstone attached to Infinite's chest while saying "Sorry, but you just GOT to share the secret of your power with me, I insist!"

Sonic began to run towards Infinite. When suddenly he spread his arms out and the black markings on the right side of his mask began to glow red "Your insistence is futile!"

Suddenly a massive reddish orange blast came from Infinite and Sonic began to float off of the ground. As Sonic tried to return to the ground bellow him but before he could Infinite suddenly crashed into Sonic and sent him flying through the air, once the sight of the ruins left Sonic's sight that reddish orange glow also left, and suddenly he began to fall towards the ground, Sonic hit the ground and bounced off of it a few times before skidding to a halt. Sonic picked himself up off of the ground and saw that to his right was a large cliff face, and over to his left was a giant canyon, and inside of that canyon there was a burning forest who's yellow light reached the top of the canyon wall Sonic was on, then Infinite float down from the air in front of Sonic "Still thrashing around I see. You filthy little sewer rat."

Sonic stood upright and began to run towards Infinite who began to fly away from Sonic, still facing the Hedgehog. Sonic then said "Haven't you seen a Hedgehog before? Come on! I'll show you my spines and quills!"

Sonic then began to boost towards Infinite who held his hand out and red cubes began to appear in front of Sonic blocking his path. Sonic jumped over the cube barrier when suddenly Infinite fired an energy shot out of his palm at Sonic, the Hedgehog ducked underneath the shot and quickly got back up to his feet, suddenly a tendril made of red cubes rose out of the canyon, it swung at Sonic, and the Hedgehog wasn't able to dodge the attack so it was able to hit him. Sonic fell onto his back and as he stood up he saw that his sight had been covered in a tint of reddish orange color. As he got up onto his feet he began to run forwards again trying to find Infinite again, when suddenly spikes burst out of the ground in front of him, he jumped over them and another set of spikes appeared again, Sonic jumped over that set of spikes again and once he landed back on the ground the reddish tint left his sight and Infinite appeared over him again "What did you-"

But he wouldn't get his answer because Infinite then flew high up into the air and the path Sonic was running on suddenly came to a stop. Sadly Sonic didn't have enough time to react so he fell into the burning canyon, but as he fell a massive cylinder of red cubes appeared underneath him and it turned into a giant snake, Sonic landed on the back of the snake and as he stood up Infinite lowered down from the sky again. Sonic grumbled to himself as he began to run towards Infinite again "That guy's starting to get on my nerves."

He boosted forwards and like last time red cube barriers began to appear in front of Sonic again, but unlike last time Sonic was able to jump over and dodge each of the cube obstacles, he then suddenly jumped up into the air and Homing Attacked into Infinite, Sonic bounced off of Infinite who was surprised enough to not block Sonic's attack and the Hedgehog landed on the back of the snake again and Infinite groaned slightly from his pain, Sonic boosted off towards Sonic and was able to Homing Attack Infinite again, but once he landed back on the snake he reached its head and he quickly jumped off of it. Sonic landed on the side of a canyon wall and jumped to the other side. All the while Infinite suddenly began to multiply until there was around four of them, Sonic then jumped into the air and Homing Attacked into the lead Infinite, who appeared to be a fake, he then Homing Attacked into the next fake Infinite, and as he Homing Attacked into the last Infinite Sonic realized that the Infinite he hit was the real one. As Sonic landed on a small canyon path underneath him the remaining fake Infinites disappeared and the real one continued to fly in front of Sonic, the Hedgehog jumped up into the air and Homing Attacked towards Infinite but a red cube tendril swung towards Sonic but he was able to Stomp to the ground and jump back up into the air when he was able to Homing Attack into Infinite.

The masked Jackal clenched his fists in anger while pain coursed through his body, he then used his powers to pick up a chunk of ground and threw it at Sonic, the Hedgehog jumped up and landed on the chunk before jumping back up into the air and Homing Attacked Infinite, Sonic then landed back on the ground and quickly Homing Attacked into Infinite again, he continued to do it over, and over, and over again, until he jumped up into the air, spun around in the air, and kicked the Jackal's masked face. The two of them landed on the ground, Sonic on his feet, and Infinite on his stomach, the masked Jackal began to pick himself up off of the ground while saying "Impossible! Your abilities exceed your previous data!"

Sonic smugly grinned at Infinite "Unlike mechs I can grow. I get more powerful every second!"

Infinite placed a hand on top of his mask and began to clench it out of anger "I will teach you to hold that tongue next time we meet. You can count on it."

He then began to lift off of the ground again, shaking his head to alleviate his pain "Well. You've improved since the last time we met. But you will still lose."

Infinite blasted out another reddish orange light that engulfed Sonic. Infinite then created two spheres of energy in either of his hands and threw them at Sonic, the Hedgehog was able to dodge the energy spheres but suddenly a third one was able to hit him, Sonic began to fall down into the canyon but he was able to grab onto a stray branch that saved his life, Infinite lifted his hand up and another sphere of energy appeared in his palm, but before it could hit Sonic Silver blasted the incoming sphere and blocked Infinite and Sonic's sight of each other. Sonic smiled at the white Hedgehog "Silver! Thanks for the save!"

Silver nodded while Infinite growled at him "Get out of my way you pathetic hog! I have some business to finish."

Silver shook his head "Not in a thousand years, or even two hundred more."

Infinite clenched his fists in anger again "You do nothing but get in my way, but do not worry Sonic we will be able to finish our battle because, soon, this hog will no longer be able to do get in my way."

Infinite then charged towards Silver who suddenly grabbed onto the Jackal's arms and the two disappeared in a bright flash of reddish orange and cyan light. Sonic swung himself up to the top of the canyon and began to do a mental recap of what had just happened, but each time he did he always got stuck on that moment when he entered that strange world of spiked ground "Rrrrrgh! I gotta figure out the secret of his power."

Suddenly the voice of Amy came over Sonic's earpiece "Sonic?! Are you alright?! After you entered the ruins I lost contact with you!"

Sonic nodded "Yeah, I'm here. And I found out the source of that strange energy source. It was Silver!"

Amy gasped "Really!? That's great news! Maybe Silver might just be the boost in power that we need."

Sonic then began to run out of the Mystic Jungle. As he ran he said "I also found out the name of that masked jerk.. It's Infinite.. Which I'm guessing is the amount of ego he's got."

Amy sighed "Just.. Get back to the base."

Sonic chuckled slightly and said "You got it Amy."

Before boosting forwards getting closer to the edge of the Mystic Jungle.

###### 6:38 P.M. Mediter, Apotos, Ruins of Promethium.

In a bright flash of cyan and reddish orange light both Infinite and Silver appeared in the middle of the completely demolished capital building. Infinite shoved Silver away from him "What did you- How- How did you do this?!"

Silver glanced around his surroundings, the entire city, it was destroyed there wasn't anything left "I- Wouldn't you like to know."

Infinite clenched his fists as he glared at Silver "I see right through you child. You have no clue how you did that, and I won't lie, neither do I. But that doesn't matter now, because it is time for you to meet you fate."

Infinite was then surrounded by a red aura before he floated up off of the ground. Silver then also surrounded himself in his own aura but he remained on the ground "We'll see about that."

Infinite held his hand out and fired an energy shot at Silver who quickly jumped out of the way and used his telekinesis to pick up some of the capitol building's rubble before throwing it at Infinite, the Jackal floated out of the way of the rubble before suddenly a chunk of rubble was lifted up off of the ground and surrounded by a red aura. Infinite thrust his hand out and the chunk of rubble was lunged towards Silver, the Hedgehog raised his hands up and before the chunk of rubble hit him it exploded and the bits of remaining rubble missed him, Infinite grumbled "I truly do not have time to deal with you. No one will ever care if you just give up and die here."

Silver clenched his fists "Do you really think I'd just give up?!"

Infinite sighed "It would've made things so much easier.. So if you aren't willing to drop dead, then I must do it myself."

Suddenly Infinite sped towards Silver and kicked him up into the air. Silver quickly used his telekinesis to stop himself in midair but Infinite quickly appeared behind him and kicked him down towards the ground. As Silver fell Infinite made half of a bell fly up towards Silver and crash into him, as Silver flew back towards Infinite the Jackal floated out of Silver's way and let him pass, Silver fell onto the cracked street that sat behind the destroyed capital building only to be almost crushed by a car, as Silver rolled out of the car's way Infinite made an entire wall of red cubes appear behind Silver. Without even knowing it Silver ran into the wall and entered a strange world where everything was tinted reddish orange, and Infinite was gone, but what was there were three different Egg Titans standing over him, the massive robots charged up their lasers and fired at Silver while the Hedgehog flew away from them as fast as he could, one of the Titans punched its spiked hand out to try and hit Silver but before it could the reddish orange world faded away and Infinite grabbed onto Silver's tuft of chest fur. Infinite then threw Silver towards the ground before making rubble combine together to create a building made out of asphalt, wood, concrete, and glass, as Silver struggled to stand back up Infinite made the building crash down on top of Silver, once the entire building had been crashed over Silver's head Infinite looked through the dust of destruction and saw Silver still sounding and surrounded by a force field made from his telekinetic powers.

Infinite shook his head "Like I've said before, I have no time for this. I have a mission to complete, so, instead of finishing you off like I want to.. I'll let gravity decide your fate."

Silver looked at Infinite confused when suddenly the force field surrounding him disappeared and he was flung high up into the air. Infinite watched as Silver disappeared behind a cloud before flying off back towards West Side Island and the Mystic Jungle, meanwhile Silver flailed through the air as he panicked, he had to calm himself down, and once he did calm himself down just enough to think clearly he tried to levitate himself in midair, but that force field had taken to much out of him, he was just to weak so as he continued to try, and failed, to save himself with his telekinesis he began to fall back down towards the ground. Silver's eyes widened in shock as he saw himself begin to approach a single spike from an old rusty fence, yet again Silver attempted to use his telekinesis to avoid the spike but yet again he couldn't, he just couldn't, he wasn't strong enough, Silver closed his eyes and he felt his entire body flare up, his nerves were going crazy, he felt oddly warm, his ears started to ring, he could fell his eyes begin to water, his mouth felt dry, and in an instant he disappeared in a flash of bright cyan blue light.

###### 6:40 P.M. South Island, Green Hill City, Resistance Base, Briefing Room.

Sonic yawned as he sat down in a chair next to the briefing table. Knuckles looked over to Sonic "I take it your mission was successful."

Sonic nodded "Yeah, yeah it was. Did Amy tell you about what I learned in there?"

Knuckles nodded "She did indeed."

Sonic nodded again "That's good... Listen, Knux, I'm really tired so that's about all I can help you with?"

Knuckles grinned slightly "You? Tired?"

Sonic rolled his eyes "I haven't actually slept since last year, and I've only gotten half a nap since then."

Knuckles nodded "Fair enough. There's a sleeping quarter just outside of the Briefing Room."

Sonic nodded yet again "Thanks Knux."

He then stood up but as he did a strange gust of wind entered the underground room. Anything that was small and not very secure on the ground, Sonic turned around and as he did a bright cyan flash of light appeared over the table, and Silver fell out of midair and fell onto the table before he then slid off of it and onto the ground, Sonic ran over to Silver and began to help him up "Silver! Dude are you okay?"

Silver shakily nodded "Y- Yeah.. I'm f- fine."

Knuckles also ran over to Silver "Kid! You don't look fine!"

Knuckles then pointed to a bruise on the side of Silver's head. The white Hedgehog touched his bruise and winced slightly "I- I.. I fought I- Infinite."

Silver then leaned against the side of the table and Sonic let go of him. Knuckles stepped in front of Silver "You fought Infinite? I'd congratulate you on living to tell the tale, but, the fact you TRIED to fight him deserves some kind of punishment."

Silver looked at Knuckles slightly confused "W- What?"

Knuckles nodded "Yeah. I mean, as the leader of the Resistance I have to punish soldiers who do something reckless and stupid."

Silver coughed slightly as he said "W- What? Soldier?"

Knuckles nodded again a slight grin growing on his face "Yeah. Of course unless you don't want to become a soldier which is fine."

Silver also grinned "If Resistance soldiers fight to save the world, then I'm in."

Knuckles held his hand out and Silver shook it "That's good to hear."

Sonic patted Silver's back as lightly as he could "Welcome to the club buddy, you're gonna get along well with your fellow soldiers."

Silver attempted to stand up straight but that only caused him to wince out in pain slightly "Agh! Does- Does this place have a med bay?"

Knuckles nodded "There is, its a level below this one."

Silver also nodded before Espio suddenly walked over and began to help Silver walk out of the room. Sonic followed behind Silver and Espio, but he didn't enter the elevator, instead he walked into the sleeping quarter. The door slid open and Sonic saw Newt and Matty both sleeping in a bunk bed, Matty on top, Newt on bottom, but the bunk over to the left had a young red Wolf sitting on the lower bed looking down at the floor, Sonic walked over to Rookie and leaned against the bed's supports "Hey."

Rookie was shocked slightly to hear and see Sonic so it took him a moment to respond "..H- Hey Sonic."

The Hedgehog waved slightly before a moment of silence fell in between them. Suddenly Sonic spoke up again "What you up to?"

Rookie shrugged "I- I heard about how you fought Infinite and.. And."

Sonic walked over to the side of Rookie and sat down next to him "Come on, I don't bite."

Rookie sighed "Just. Keep it between us alright?"

Sonic nodded before Rookie continued "A month ago, I- I ran into Infinite... I was trying to smuggle myself out of the city when he just showed up. I watched as Infinite mowed down the other refugees, and- and- I couldn't do anything. I was too scared, so I ran, and he let me... I never told anyone not even Newt or Matty.. I just couldn't, I can't."

Sonic rubbed Rookie's shoulder "Hey, I understand.. Kind of.. But I promise that I won't tell anyone, but you've got to come clean soon."

Rookie nodded before Sonic stood up and began to climb up the bunk bed ladder "Also, I might snore a little in my sleep so do be warned."

Rookie nodded before Sonic climbed up onto the top bunk, he was too tired to completely get ready for bed so he just took off his shoes and tossed them to the floor before laying his head down and falling asleep almost instantly, soon Rookie took off his boots, gloves, combat pouches, glasses, and earpiece before laying down and falling asleep hoping silently to himself to not have a nightmare about Infinite like he had been since he first met him.


	10. Vs. Eggman!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heck, this took so long to get to. Very much sorry about that, if anyone cares that is. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to making regular updates on this story, but who knows. I hope to at least finish it. Enjoy!

### Vs. Eggman!

###### November 4th, 9:08 A.M. South Island, Green Hill Zone, the Old Airstrip.

Blue snored slightly as he tossed and turned on top of the metal wing of the Tornado. He was dreaming of running through Studiopolis Zone again when he began to hear the sound of someone grumbling outside of the hanger, he groggily opened his eyes before looking over to the semi-open doors of the hanger "Why.. Why is someone out at this time of day?"

He then sleepily slid off of the Tornado and began to walk over to the hanger doors, when suddenly he heard the voice of what sounded like an ever so slightly sassy robotic voice say "Boss! You've got an incoming message from Infinite."

Blue peeked in between the opening of the doors and saw Eggman, in his Egg Mobile, look over to the circular red Orbot and say "Fine, play the message." Orbot nodded before it displayed a holographic image of that masked Jackal who was holding a gemstone in his hand. Eggman looked over to the holographic image and suddenly the Jackal crushed the stone in his hand "And with that, the disposal of the Phantom Ruby prototypes is complete."

As Infinite opened his hand and let the dust from the crushed stone slip in between his fingers Eggman said "It was a defective model. It could only record the DNA of the one that triggered it."

Infinite then placed a hand on his chest while saying "Only a being with my strength of will could ever activate it."

Eggman sighed "It doesn't matter now, with both the lab in the Mystic Jungle and the Egg Station locked down. Which reminds me, didn't you run into Sonic last night after he escaped?"

Infinite nodded, but from Blue's angle it looked almost as if Infinite nodded sadly, before saying "Yes, he was powerless against me.."

Eggman and Infinite both went silent for a moment before the Doctor suddenly said "And?!"

"And I was on the verge of whipping him off the face of this planet. When that troublemaker from the future showed up and, somehow, transported me to the remains of Apotos."

Eggman slammed his hands down on the front of his Egg Mobile "The Hedgehog is still ALIVE?! And some two-bit hero from an infinitely destroyed future stop you?! Infinite, that is a great source of concern for me!"

Infinite chuckled slightly "For you, perhaps. Sonic has beaten you for decades, yet I defeated him in our first encounter. As for that white hog, he has yet to fight on any sort of battlefield in his life, he will be like an ANT that I can crush under foot."

While Infinite back-talked Eggman the Doctor glared at him. Blue silently said to himself "Phantom Ruby prototypes? That's the name of that gem me and Egghead were fighting over back at the Monarch... And this world's Sonic is.. Alive!"

Suddenly the holographic image of Infinite looked over to the hanger doors and Blue quickly ducked behind one of them, Eggman also looked over to the hanger doors but he didn't see anything "What is it?"

Infinite stared at the doors for a moment longer before saying "Nothing. We move forward with the plan?"

And while Infinite looked back over to Eggman the Doctor said "Of course! When it's complete, the Resistance will be erased. The world will be nothing but ashes, from which my glorious Eggman Empire will rise!"

As Eggman finished talking Blue could hear the sound of the Phantom Ruby's pulsing coming from the holographic image of Infinite as the Jackal said "And the Resistance will yield to the Phantom Ruby's power. All will submit."

Eggman nodded before Infinite turned off his end of the holographic transmission. Eggman sighed out of frustration as he reclined into the leather seat of his Egg Mobile "Now where is that organism? I've been searching for it since the crack of dawn!"

Orbot shrugged "I don't know. But Cubot was left in charge of the base so we should probably get back before he blows something up."

But Eggman wasn't paying any attention to what Orbot was saying, instead he became interested in a sound he heard inside of the hanger. Blue ran over to the Tornado and jumped up onto its wing "Tails! Tails! Wake up!"

The Fox groaned slightly as he opened his eyes "S- Sonic?.. Is that you?"

Blue shook his head "Nah, well technically not, It's me Blue. And I've got some good news!"

Tails rubbed his eyes as he sat up straight in the old cushioned seat of the Tornado, audible pops were heard coming out of Tails' back as he did "Ugh, Blue? What is it?"

Blue crouched down to be closer to Tails "Sonic, your Sonic, he's alive! He escaped.. Some place, and now he's free!"

That immediately woke Tails up "Sonic's alive!? Really?!"

Blue nodded "Yeah, I over heard Egghead talking to Infinite, that masked Jackal monster thing, about how Sonic escaped."

Tails' wide eyes of happiness turned into wide eyes of shock "Wait? Eggman?"

Blue nodded "Yeah, but don't worry, about the only thing he can do is ram into us with his Egg Mobile, or throw that red robot thing at us."

Tails began to climb out of the Tornado while saying "That doesn't matter! Green Hills is under his complete occupation! He can call for reinforcements at any-"

"Oh but I have no need for that."

Both Blue and Tails looked over to the hanger's doors as a buzz saw burst through it cutting a hole in the metal large enough for Eggman to fly into the hanger. The two of them saw that the Egg Mobile had a red buzz saw attached by a chain to the bottom of the Mobile, and as Eggman entered the hanger he was surprised to see Blue standing there, but he was more surprised by the fact that his on board computer was telling him Blue was the source of that strange brain wave report the spy drone sent him "What?! You!"

Blue charged towards Eggman and jumped up into the air before crashing into the Egg Mobile "Agh! I don't have time for this."

Eggman then retracted the buzz saw and began to fly out of the hanger while Blue said "Oh come on! I'll make it quick!"

But Eggman didn't pay any attention to the younger Sonic. As Blue chased after Eggman he looked over his shoulder and said to Tails "Get the Tornado ready! I'll be back soon!"

Tails tried to yell for Blue to stop but the Hedgehog quickly jumped through the hole in the doors and ran after Eggman, Blue ran down the side of the mountain and to the back of it where he saw Eggman flying past a massive lake of sand "Hey Doc! It's my two o'clock appointment!"

Eggman grumbled before turning his Egg Mobile around and releasing the buzz saw again "Fine, if it's a battle you want. A battle you shall get!"

Blue ran towards Eggman and the Doctor made the buzz saw sing at Blue. The Hedgehog ducked underneath the incoming saw while Eggman cackled out "Such power exceeds even MY expectations. Hah! My own genius scares me sometimes!"

Blue rolled his eyes "Come on Eggman, that's just a glorified version of the chain and ball from our first encounter.

Blue then jumped up into the air and crashed into the back of the Mobile, right as he did the voice of Tails suddenly came over the Mobile's built in PA system "But that means you miscalculated. That's a failure in my book."

As Blue landed back on the ground he had to duck underneath the incoming blades of the saw, all the while Eggman said "Mwa-haha! To surpass expectations is the ultimate of genius! I wouldn't except either of you to understand."

Blue then quickly jumped up into the air and cut the buzz saw's chain in half before landing back on the ground and jumping up into the air again, this time crashing into the Egg Mobile. Blue stood in front of Eggman and the Mobile "You conquered the world and all you did was add blades to the chain and ball? Man, you disappoint me."

But suddenly Eggman began to laugh, quietly and slowly at first, but as the shore of the sand lake began to shake Eggman's cackle grew louder and faster, until suddenly a massive, red, winged mech that had a giant gatling gun for a right arm, and a giant drill for a left arm burst out of the sand behind Eggman. He flew his Egg Mobile up to the mech and connected into it "Behold! The Egg Dragoon Mark 2!"

The massive mech then lunged its gatling gun arm at Blue before firing a massive volley of bullets at the Hedgehog. Blue jumped up into the air narrowly dodging some bullets before hitting the ground and blasting off into the Drop Dash. The Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 then quickly pulled its right arm back and thrust the drill arm out, blocking Blue's path, he skid to a halt and as he turned around to run so he could put some distance in between him and the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 the mech suit suddenly pulled the drill out of the ground and flew over Blue's head, and as it passed over him its two strange claw like feet grabbed onto him and carried him away. 

Blue tried his hardest to break free from the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2's hold but its mechanical grip was too tight on him, that's when the mech suddenly let go of him letting Blue fall through the air, he spun around in the air and saw that he was heading straight towards the ground, he quickly thrust his arms and legs out before just as quickly bringing them back in and curling into a Spin Ball. He hit the ground and burst right through it without taking much damage, Blue then untucked himself out of the Spin Ball and saw that he was heading straight towards an underground lake of water, sadly Blue couldn't avoid crashing into the water so once he did he quickly pulled himself out and saw that he was in a cavern with a tall roof and a single passageway out of there, Blue dried himself off quickly before running forwards and into the passageway.

That passageway was slowly leading upwards and eventually he saw over to his left that there was various holes in the wall of the passage that almost looked like windows. As Blue ran through the passage the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 began to fly along side Blue "Hahahahah! BURN!"

The mech then held up its right arm and flames burst out of it, Blue quickly sped up and he barely kept ahead of the fires, and as he ran he saw the end of the passage coming towards him, and as he left the passage the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 it stopped firing its own flames and flew forwards. Blue skid to a halt and turned to face the giant mech as Eggman made the mech use its clawed mechanical feet to pick up chunks of ground.

The Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 then covered them in ice and threw them at Blue, the Hedgehog dodged the incoming iced rocks when he saw his chance, he jumped up into the air and hit one of the chunks of ground back to the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2. The iced rock crashed into the body of the mech suit which caused Eggman to yell out "You've got a lot of nerve for a pint-sized Sonic from another dimension! Even though this Egg Dragoon wasn't designed to deal with Sonic after he was defeated, it's only lost 10% of its combat strength. Which it makes up for in THIS!"

The Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 then suddenly the drill arm split open and it fired a massive laser at Blue. The Hedgehog jumped out of the laser's way before coming to a stop and yelling out "That's what 10% of combat strength lost looks like to you?!"

Eggman rolled his eyes "It's not for fighting."

Blue then watched as the laser hit a tree and it suddenly disappear "It's for easy capture."

Blue then bolted away from the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 but the mech of course followed after him. The Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 thrust its drill arm out and the drill launched off of the mech's arm like a rocket. Blue jumped out of the drills way and once it hit the ground, the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 used a built in magnetic system to draw the drill back into its arm, Blue suddenly turned around and ran towards Eggman, but the mech suit swiped its drill arm at him which only allowed Blue to jump up onto its mechanical wrist and run up the arm to the top of the suit.

Blue jumped up into the air and crashed into the top of the Egg Mobile's glass case, Blue bounced off of it and landed on the ground and began to run away while the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 spun around and chased after him, Blue glanced over his shoulder and saw that the mech was only barely even damaged "This isn't going to last much longer at this rate, what kind of metal is that thing made out of?"

The Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 fired its gatling gun arm at Blue and the bullets barely missed him. The mech stopped firing so it could fly over Blue and block the Hedgehog's path with a pile of boulders, Blue skid to a halt as the mech glared down at him "Ahahahah! Wohohohohohoh! First I defeated Sonic, and now I'm taking out a Sonic from a different dimension entirely!? Is it my birthday? Or has Christmas come early? Either way, I'll gladly take this gift."

Blue couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of fear crawl down his spine, the same kind of fear he had when he first saw the Death Egg Robot on the original Death Egg. That's when suddenly an old bi-plan flew by the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2's face. Eggman looked up into the sky very surprised "What?!"

And suddenly Tails yelled from the Tornado "Blue! I'll keep Eggman busy while you take down the mech!"

Blue then yelled out a response "I don't know how!"

Tails quickly pulled out his Mini-Miles-Electric and tossed it to Blue while also saying "I've already analyzed the interior and exterior of the suit! The MME has its four strongest weak points already pulled up on it!"

Blue grabbed the MME and stared at its screen. It showed that the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 was weak in the middle of its spinal region, the elbow joint for the gatling gun arm, and the top of its head, Blue gave Tails a thumbs up as he flew over head "You got it!"

When suddenly he heard the sound of the drill being launched at him, Blue quickly jumped out of the drills way and ran while the two chaos powered energy cannons came out of the underneath of the Tornado and began to fire at Eggman distracting him just enough to keep his attention away from Blue. The Hedgehog racked his brain and tried to figure out how he'd hit all four of those weak points, that's when he saw that the Mega-Loop could launch him towards the mech suit, Blue grinned before speeding off towards the Mega-Loop Mountain and running up it.

Once Blue reached the top he saw that Tails and the Tornado barely dodged an incoming swipe from the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2, Blue took in a deep breath before jumping up and blasting off into his Drop Dash, he rocketed around the Mega-Loop before he was launched off of it and towards the mech. Eggman turned around to see Blue rocketing towards him and the mech suit. He raised the gatling gun arm up in an attempt to hit Blue away but luckily the Hedgehog was to fast for the mech to properly block, so he cut right through the gatling gun's elbow joint, Eggman yelled out in anger and frustration as he watched the gatling gun arm down to the ground. Blue hadn't planed on it, but he landed on the wings of the Tornado "Whoa! O- Oh hey Tails."

The Fox stared at Blue slightly confused "J- Just attack Eggman."

Blue nodded before jumping off of the plane and down to the ground, Eggman glared down at Blue and made the mech suit fire the drill at him but the Hedgehog dodged the attack and ran forwards, he jumped up slightly and he Drop Dashed forwards as the drill flew past his face and back to right arm of the mech. Blue passed underneath the mech suit as Eggman got himself distracted by Tails, Blue unballed himself and skid to a halt as he stared up at the middle of the spinal region of the mech, he then began to ran forwards before jumping up into the air and cutting through the mech's spine, Eggman felt the mech suit shudder as its lower half fell apart underneath him "Agh! How?!"

Tails chuckled slightly but didn't answer as Blue landed on the ground and stared up at the top of the suit. He thought to himself "Now how do I get up there?"

That's when the mech dodged an attack from the Tornado and saw a small mountain that was just tall enough to give Blue a good shot at the top of the Egg Dragoon Mrk.2, Blue grinned before he ran forwards heading towards the mountain as the mech swiped at the Tornado out of anger and frustration, Blue climbed up the side of the mountain and reached the top of it, he looked down at the mech suit and called out "Hey! Egghead!"

Eggman turned around in the Egg Mobile and looked up to Blue as he jumped up off of the top of the small mountain and yelled out "Guess who!?"

Blue then balled himself up into a Spin Ball and headed straight down towards the mech suit which caused Eggman to yell out in anger yet again. Blue crashed into the top of the Egg Mobile's glass case and the entire Egg Dragoon Mrk.2 shuddered and groaned, Eggman then ejected his Egg Mobile out of the top of the mech suit before it crashed onto the ground and exploded due to its damage, as that happened Blue landed on top of the Tornado and him as well as Tails chased after Eggman. The two watched as the Egg Mobile crashed into the ground underneath them, the Tornado landed in front of the Egg Mobile and the two heroes got off of the Tornado and ran over to Eggman, as they did Tails said "Yeah! We did it!"

They then stopped in front of the Egg Mobile as Eggman opened up the glass case of the Mobile and said "Hohohoho. Look at you, fighting like you've got a chance to win! It's adorable!"

The Egg Mobile then shuddered as it shifted slightly, once it did Eggman continued "Almost makes me feel bad that we're never going to do this little dance again."

Blue looked up to Eggman "What do you mean Egghead?"

Eggman rolled his eyes "In just three short days, my plan will eliminate the bothersome lot of you!"

Tails sighed "Wait? Three days? Eggman you're starting to sound like Neo Metal Sonic. Although you're plan is probably worse then Metal's so why don't you tell us."

Eggman shook his head "If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise! You know what they say, the anticipation of the end is worse than the end itself."

Eggman then began to reboot the Egg Mobile's systems while saying "Maybe not in this case though."

The Egg Mobile then began to lift off of the ground which caused Blue and Tails to step forwards, but Eggman quickly slammed his fist down on a button and a bright flash came out of the Egg Mobile's front headlights and blinding the two slightly. As their vision cleared the two saw Eggman fly away cackling as he did. Blue shook his head while saying "He still uses that thing?"

Tails looked over to Blue slightly confused "Huh?"

Blue shrugged "Back in my first adventure, in Final Zone. Egghead hit me with a bright flash so he could escape, it didn't work though."

Tails nodded before he then began to lead Blue over to the Tornado. As the plane began to take off Blue looked over his shoulder and said to Tails "What do you know about a Phantom Ruby?"

Tails shrugged slightly as the plane began to fly over the Zone "It.. Sounds like an ancient relic like the Chaos Emeralds, or the Master Emerald."

Blue nodded "Yeah.. Well do you remember when I told you about how I got here?"

Tails nodded and Blue continued "So, the name of that gemstone is the Phantom Ruby. I don't know how your Eggman got it, or if he made it, but that thing is dangerous. Like, do you remember that rouge Eggrobo I told you about?"

Tails nodded again and Blue continued some more "Well that guy's name was the Heavy King, and once he got his hands on the Phantom Ruby he snapped. He kept on rambling on about alternate realities and how all other Heavy King's had failed to defeat me but he was going to be the one to do it. Heh, well he didn't do it. Anyways we just have to keep our guards up, that thing is really dangerous."

Tails nodded yet again and he said "You got it Blue."

The Hedgehog grinned and gave Tails a thumbs up. There was a long minute or two of silence between the two of them when Blue suddenly spoke up "So, where is this Mystic Jungle place?"

Tails answered with "It's actually on West Side Island. Near the old Chemical Plant, and Aquatic Ruins Zone."

Blue nodded "Awesome, so it should pretty familiar to me shouldn't it?"

Tails shrugged "Guess so."

And with that the two began to fly over the ocean heading towards West Side Island as they did.


	11. Saviour of Park Avenue

### Saviour of Park Avenue

###### November 4th, 11:25 P.M. Green Hill City, Resistance Base, sleeping quarters.

Rookie opened his eyes groggily and stared up at the bottom frame of the top bunk. He could hear the sound of Sonic's snoring above him, and when Rookie rolled over onto his right side he saw that Matty had gotten off of the top bunk and snuggled up to Newt on the bottom bunk, Rookie groaned slightly and quietly, as he sat up in bed, he then got out of it and slipped into his gear, and as he put on his glasses he heard the sound of feet shuffling by the quarters' door.

Rookie walked out into the base's hallway and he suddenly felt like something was off. that something was wrong, but he shook that feeling off and walked into the Briefing Room to try and figure out how long he'd been asleep for, but once the automatic door slid open he saw that the room was in shambles, almost everything in there was broken, the table had been split in half, the wall of monitors had been destroyed, and all of the various crates in the room had either been knocked over, thrown across the room, or broken into pieces. Rookie crept into the room not sure what had happened, why no one woke him up to stop whatever happened, or who did it, that's when he saw the tip of Amy's boot poking out from behind a crate, he ran over to the crate and saw Amy laying motionless on the ground, he quickly scrambled over to her and knelt down next to her.

He then put his hand on her chest to try and feel for a heartbeat but there wasn't anything, she wasn't breathing either. He then quickly looked over her body and saw that she wasn't bleeding from anywhere, she didn't seem to have any broken bones, it just looked like she had dropped dead suddenly, Rookie then stood back up and turned around only to see Silver lying in a pile of broken crates, he was also motionless, what happened here? what was going on? Rookie quickly looked around the room and saw that Knuckles, Vector, Espio, and Charmy all were lying in or on something in the room, motionless and dead. Rookie quickly ran for the door "Someone! Help!"

But he heard something that made him skid to a halt in freeze there in fear, he heard the sound of Infinite cackling, Rookie slowly turned around and saw standing at the far end of the room in front of him was Infinite himself "So, the child show's his face yet again. Tell me, will you accept your fate and die at my hands? Or will you go running with no direction?"

Rookie couldn't breath, his heart was beating a thousand times per second, his legs were shacking, his mouth went dry and the only thing he could squeak out was "H- How?"

Infinite then began to walk forwards as the two halves of the table moved out of his way "What? You don't think Eggman knows where this base is? How naive can one get? I simply walked in and.. Well.. Did all of THIS."

He glanced around the room making sure to highlight the dead bodies. Rookie tried to back away from Infinite but he quickly felt himself pinned against the wall behind him. Infinite chuckled as he loomed over Rookie "You look different.. But you still haven't changed, you're still that scared child I found in the city, only, I had made a mistake then. And I plan on correcting it now."

Infinite then slowly raised one of his hands up to his mask and he carefully began to take it off "Tell me. What do you expect to see under this? The face of someone you once knew? The face of a machine? The face of someone just like you, an ordinary person turned something they shouldn't be? Or, do you expect to see a monster?"

Infinite then finally took of his metal mask and chunked it away. Rookie's eyes widened in shock as he stared at a face he could only imagine in his nightmares, Infinite's unblinking eyes were a deep blood red, his mouth was wide and filled with jagged teeth, his ears were pointed like horns, and his face looked as if it was made out of some kind of black smoke or fog, Infinite slammed his left hand against the area of the wall next to Rookie's face "It's truly a gift, isn't it? This face. I only show it to those who I've deemed worthy of actually staring into death's eyes."

Rookie wanted desperately to look away, but he couldn't, he was practically pressing himself against the wall at this point as Infinite continued to loom over him. Tears began to form in his eyes which caused Infinite to say "Don't cry. This should be painless, although, I haven't tested this myself so I wouldn't know."

He inched his face closer and closer to Rookie's as he did, which only caused the Wolf to shake his head as if he could actually say no to any of this.

Infinite chuckled, his face now inches away from Rookie's "I knew you were a cowered. But even some of the other cowereds I've dealt with have put up a fight."

Rookie's eyes began to water even more as Infinite's sour breath filled the Wolf's nose. Rookie tried to crouch down and hide but Infinite suddenly grabbed onto his shoulder and physically pinned him against the wall "While I enjoy watching you suffer. It's time for this to end."

Infinite then began to open his mouth, and it only got wider, and wider, and wider. More and more teeth appeared in the Jackal's maw as it got wider, Rookie then began to try and flail around to get away from Infinite but he could barely even more at this point, and in an instant Infinite lunged forwards and bit Rookie's head off.

###### 5:45 P.M.

Rookie bolted up right in his bed and let out an almost blood curdling scream which caused Matty to be startled awake and to also fall off of the top bed of her bunk, all while Newt herself also bolted up right a black sleeping mask placed over her eyes. Matty jumped up onto her feet "AAH! WHO GOES THERE!?"

She had her fists clenched and brought them up in a defensive stance, Newt was still very delirious from her suddenly being woken up "Matty? What's going on?"

Rookie scrambled out of bed "G- Guys! I- I just had nightmare! There's nothing bad going on right now!"

Matty put a hand on her chest trying to calm herself down "Rookie! You scared us!.. Are you alright?"

Rookie nodded "Yeah, I'm fine."

Newt took off her sleeping mask and saw that Sonic was still asleep "How could he sleep through all of that?"

Rookie turned around and looked at the top bunk behind him right as Sonic let out a slight snore "Well.. He hadn't slept in a year so I doubt he'd stop now because of some yelling."

Matty nodded as she yawned "What time is it?"

Rookie shrugged as he picked up one of his boots "I don't know. But, I need to take a walk around the base."

Matty nodded again as she sat down next to Newt on her bed "You do that.. I'm gonna get some more sleep."

She then yawned and leaned against Newt's shoulder which prompted the Bear to begin rubbing the side of Matty's body lovingly. Rookie walked out of the sleeping quarters while readjusting his glasses so they'd sit right on his face. Rookie looked around the hallway and felt a shiver run down his spine as he remembered the piercing, glowing, red eyes of Infinite and at the same time he heard the slightly muffled voice of Amy say "Eggman's army has broken through! They're in the city! We need to get these people out of there and push them back!"

Through the Briefing Room's door. As he did Knuckles said to Amy "Who can we send? Silver and Bunnie still needs time to heal, and Sonic as well as the rest of the Special Forces still needs to get more rest before we can put them back on the front lines."

Suddenly the voice of Espio came over Amy's computer "We've engaged enemy forces at Seaside Hill. We can't spare anymore!"

Then a different unknown voice to Rookie came over the computer "This is the 8th Unit! We're pinned down under heavy enemy fire!"

Rookie spoke up suddenly "I can go! I can help the people in the city!"

Knuckles hadn't noticed Rookie yet so when the red Wolf suddenly spoke up Knuckles was shocked, before he let out a sigh and said "Man, looks like I've got no choice. Okay, Rookie, this is a tough one for you. Head into the city and save those civilians!"

Rookie nodded before Amy walked over to him and handed Rookie a small device that had a screen that showed a map of the city, and his Wispon, on that device/map there were red dots placed around that showed areas where civilians were in danger. Rookie then turned around and ran out of the room while Amy returned to her computer and Knuckles returned to staring at the multi-monitor wall. Rookie stepped out of the freight elevator and into the empty office building before using his grappling hook to pull himself out of the building and into the city.

Rookie made his hook let go of a building he had used as leverage to jump out of the Resistance Base and then quickly grappled onto a street light before swinging off of it and landing on the ground and running forwards. He could hear the sounds of various kinds of gun fire ranging from energy lasers, to bullets, being fired off in the distance and as he ran he brought his hand up to his earpiece and tuned it to the Resistance Secured Network, right as he did the voice of Amy came through his earpiece "I need a status update on the people who couldn't evacuate in time!"

Rookie then quickly used his grappling hook to turn down a sharp turn in the road, but once he turned he almost smashed face first into the side of a building so he quickly detached his hook, jumped up onto the wall, kicked off of it, and grappled up to the roof. As Rookie grabbed onto the side of the roof he heard the sound of Espio's voice come over the Secured Network "Espio here. We're engaging enemy forces, and can't search for civilians right now!"

Rookie looked around the area of the roof and saw that he couldn't jumped to any other roof around him, but, he could jump to a large balcony that was over to his left. As Rookie backed up to get a good running start the sound of a Resistance soldier came over the Network "The fighting is too fierce for us to help out as well!"

Rookie then ran forwards and jumped off of the roof. He landed on the balcony and staggered slightly before regaining his balance, right at the same time he heard the sound of robotic footsteps coming towards him, he turned around and saw Egg Pawns stomping towards him from inside of the luxury apartment that the balcony was connected to. Rookie quickly held up his Wispon and pulled the trigger destroying the Egg Pawns, he then ran through the slightly scorched apartment and jumped through a broken window and to the park grounds below, once he landed the voice of Knuckles came over his earpiece "Sounds like you're our only hope Rookie. The rescue is in your hands!"

Rookie nodded before running through the park and towards a set of stairs, standing on those stairs were a few Egg Pawns who Rookie quickly destroyed with his Wispon, he then ran up those stairs and towards a bridge that had been broken in half, Rookie jumped off of his end of the broken bridge and as he soared through the sky he looked over to his left and saw a massive Egg Titan being hit by artillery shells "Those are Death Egg Robots! They're being mass-produced now?!"

Rookie then quickly looked forwards and saw that he wouldn't make it to the other side of the bridge so he used his grappling hook to pull himself to the other side. As he climbed up onto the bridge he saw several Egg Walkers staring down at him. Rookie quickly held up his Wispon and the long legged robots then suddenly turned around and ran, while Rookie himself began to run forwards the voice of Vector came over the Network "Uh oh. This ain't good. Might be too much for Rookie to handle."

Then the voice of Knuckles responded with "Still, we can't just ignore them. You got this, right Rookie?"

The red Wolf nodded and said "Yes sir, Knuckles sir-AAAAAAH!"

While Rookie answered Knuckles' question he failed to pay attention to where he was going so Rookie tripped over himself and fell down a long set of stairs. As Rookie picked himself off of the ground, groaning as he did, the voice of Knuckles came back over his earpiece "Rookie? Are you alright?"

Rookie nodded "Y- Yeah, I just tripped."

But in an instant Egg Pawns began to form a ring around him, Rookie quickly scrambled up to his feet, he just as quickly scooped up his Wispon and quickly spun around in a circle, pulling the trigger as he did, he had closed his eyes while he spun around so when he opened them again after stopping he saw that the only thing that remained of the Pawns were piles of scrap metal. Rookie grinned before running forwards and into what looked to be an apartment district of the city.

Once he entered the district that small device began to beep rapidly, he skid to a halt and at the same time screams from civilians in danger ran out from behind on of the buildings next to him, Rookie quickly ran over to the backside of the building and saw that a family of two parents, and four kids, were being cornered by around fifteen Egg Pawns. Rookie quickly jumped up into the air and used his grappling hook to fling himself to the front of the hoard of robots. Once he landed he spun around and faced the hoard "Stay away from them!"

He then quickly pulled his Wispon's trigger and began to mow down the hoard, as soon as the last Pawn exploded he turned back around and ran over to the family "Are you alright? Do any of you need help?"

The father of the family shook his head "No we're fine. Thanks to you!"

Rookie smiled "It- It's no problem, but you need to get out of here now, never know when more robots are gonna show up."

The mother nodded before she began to lead the rest of the family out of the alley they were in. But at the same time, Rookie could hear the sound of what sounded like rushing water come from underneath him, the sound ran past his feet, and up into the two apartments on either side of him, that's when suddenly two jets of water blasted out of a window from the right apartment, and the left apartment, the jets of water hit each other and formed into a ball of water that then fell to the ground in between Rookie and the family, once the ball of water hit the ground it began to change shape, it eventually changed into Chaos. Rookie looked past Chaos and to the family "Keep going!"

The family then bolted away from him as Chaos began to stomp towards the Wolf, Rookie clench on the Wispon grew tighter out of fear and anger "Y- You don't s- scare me!"

The water god didn't respond, instead it lunged at Rookie who panicked and quickly fired off his grappling hook, which dragged him away from Chaos and up into the air, as the water god turned around Rookie fired his Wispon at Chaos. The water god's entire body began to steam as it let out a high pitched screech. Rookie dropped back down onto the ground and continued to fire his Wispon at Chaos's body which only angered the creature more.

It threw one of its arms out at Rookie but, due to the fire, the arm fell apart before it could reach Rookie so he just continued to fire and to also walk closer and closer to Chaos, once he was within punching distance of the god Rookie stopped firing his Wispon and Chaos attempted to use that moment to attack but it was too weak, so instead Rookie quickly headbutted the brain floating around in Chaos's head and the creature collapsed down into a motionless puddle of water. Rookie stared down at the puddle and slowly he was filled with a sense of giddy pride "He. Ha, hahahahah. I did it! I- I can't believe I actually did that!"

Suddenly the voice of Espio came over his earpiece "Nice work! A fine display of skill."

Charmy then added "Wow, you really showed them who's boss."

Vector also said "Come on, how am I gonna top that?"

Rookie's smile only grew bigger as he heard the Chaotix give him praise. He quickly spun back around and began to run towards the next area of civilians that had been cornered by enemy forces, he grappled over the top of a building and landed on the ground behind another hoard of Egg Pawns that had cornered a small group of teenagers, Rookie made quick work of the robots and, after pointing the teens towards the right direction, moved on to the next group of civilians. While Rookie ran the voice of a Resistance soldier came over the Network "We've broken through enemy lines! The rescue is underway."

Then Espio's voice also came over the Network "We secured an escape route so there is a safe way out."

Then Knuckles said something that made Rookie's already big smile, grow even bigger "Thanks to Rookie, things are turning around! Let's keep this momentum going!"

Rookie then grappled up to the top of a building and quickly ran across the roof before jumping off of it and grappling over a large pit that lead into the city's sewers. As he continued to run Knuckles' voice came back over the Network "Update from HQ! The enemy's on the run!"

Espio then added "Mission complete! Well done everyone!"

Rookie glanced over his shoulder and saw that he had indeed completed his mission, the civilians were escaping the city, and he had lured a large hoard of robots away from the base, once he looked forwards again he saw a large hoard of Egg Pawns and Buzz Bombers in his way, he quickly held up his Wispon and took them out before stepping onto the Red Gate Bridge. He glanced over his shoulder again and saw that the large hoard of robots were still following him, so, he jumped over the side of the bridge and used his grappling hook to swing himself back up onto the bridge behind them, sadly the robots didn't have enough time to react before they were reduced to scrap metal. Rookie then said into his earpiece "Mission accomplished."

Knuckles responded with "That was impressive, but we still have a lot of work to do!"

Then suddenly the voice of Sonic came over his earpiece "Great job! I knew you could do it if you believed in yourself!"

It kind of surprised Rookie to hear Sonic's voice, but what didn't surprise him was the voice of Vector saying "Nice moves, but if you hog all the glory, how am I going to look good?"

Rookie chuckled slightly as he turned around and began to walk back into the city "Don't worry Vector, I'm not that cool."

Sonic scoffed "Nonsense! You're way past cool!"

Rookie chuckled again while also shaking his head "Whatever you say."

He then grappled onto a building and used it to launch himself forwards.


	12. Casino Lights Over the Aqua Road

### Casino Lights Over the Aqua Road

###### 6:12 P.M. West Side Island, Mystic Jungle.

Blue took in a deep breath of the fresh air that rushed past his face as he rode on top of the Tornado "Aaahhh. I never get tired of that smell."

He glanced over his shoulder and at Tails "Feels good to fly again Tails?"

But the young Fox wasn't paying much attention to Blue. Instead, he was busy saying to himself "I can't believe it! Sonic's alive! I think I must've subconsciously used up all of my wishes for the rest of my life, but, it's worth it!"

Blue turned around and crouched down before tapping Tails' forehead "Dude, you done mumbling to yourself?"

Tails nodded "Y- Yeah. We're over the Mystic Jungle right now so we're gonna be landing soon."

Blue nodded before standing back around and also turning back around to face forwards. A minute or two latter and the Tornado touched down in a small clearing in the dense jungle, Blue hopped off of the plane as Tails climbed out of the pilot seat "Come on, we have to go find the Resistance base so we can tell Sonic about Eggman's plan. Whatever his plan is. Although, I don't really know where the base is exactly."

Blue furrowed his brow in confusion as he stared at Tails "What do you mean, you don't know exactly where the base is?"

Tails rubbed the back of his head nervously "Well... The last time I listened in on a Resistance meeting the Mystic Jungle's base was being planed and at the time no one knew where they'd put the base so.. But one of the most promising locations is right around here."

Blue shrugged "Good enough."

He then turned around and ran Tails chased after him. Blue and Tails ran through the forest and past the ruins of temple covered in neon lights, they were on a large island in the middle of a giant lake, on the shore of the lake there was also the ruins of an ancient also neon covered city. While the two ran Tails said "According to what I remember the base should be here."

Blue nodded before the two sped forwards heading towards the shore of the lake island, Blue skid to a halt at the water's edge and he stared at the other shore a good ways in front of him "How do we get over there?"

Tails then also skid to a halt next to Blue. Tails looked over to Blue "I can fly us over there."

Blue nodded "Alright."

Tails then lifted up off of the ground with his twin tails before Blue jumped up and Tails grabbed onto his hand, while Tails flew over the lake he said "You're a lot lighter than my Sonic."

Blue glared up at him "Hey!"

Tails chuckled slightly "Sorry."

The two then landed on the other side of the shore before they sped forwards again heading deeper into the jungle. As they ran Tails looked around, a look of concern growing over his face "Hmm. No sign of the base around here."

Blue nodded "Might be closer to the center."

Tails also nodded when Blue suddenly stepped on a patch of mud and slipped, he tumbled down a hill before falling into a small canyon, Tails looked over the side of the slop that led down into the canyon "Are you alright!?"

Blue nodded as he brushed any mud that clung to his quills off "Yeah, I'm fine.. I'm starting to think that your world's ground hates me."

Tails sighed when Blue spun around and ran towards the other side of the canyon. As Blue ran his foot stepped on a pressure plate and various neon purple bumpers came out of the ground. Blue skid to a halt in front of one of the bumpers before inspecting it for a moment, he could be able to use the bumpers to fling himself up into the air, Blue grinned slightly before jumping up into the air and hitting the top of the bumper, once he hit it the bumper let out a loud ping before he was flung high up into the air. Blue tried to grab onto the ledge of the canyon but he just barely missed it, when suddenly Tails grabbed onto Blue's hand, he then pulled Blue up onto the ground and the Hedgehog said "Thanks Tails."

The Fox smiled "No problem."

The two then took in a deep breath before running forwards again, they then entered an ancient city covered in neon lights and as they ran through the city Tails said "I think the base is somewhere near here. I doubt the Resistance would sit still for long so we need to hurry."

Blue nodded before the two then passed by a large temple completely covered in bright flashing neon lights, the two came to a stop next to that bright temple before they both looked at each other and Blue said "This the base?"

Tails hesitantly looked at the temple before looking back over to Blue and saying "Y- Yeah it should be."

The two then began to walk towards the temple. Once they did they saw that any Resistance tech that was once in there had been completely destroyed, Blue sighed "Of course."

Tails shook his head "This.. This isn't good."

Blue nodded while the two began to walk back out of the temple/destroyed base when suddenly Blue saw something "Hey! There's like a.. Door or something over there!"

He then pointed to a metal door that was built into the side of a large stone hill that sat several feet ahead of them, Tails sighed "Seeing as how this base is destroyed. What ever's behind that door is our next best bet on finding Resistance soldiers."

Blue nodded before the two ran forwards heading towards the door.

6:07 P.M. South Island, Green Hill City, Resistance Base Lower Floor.

Rookie yawned as he stretched his sleepy body out while he walked down the hall. He was heading towards the med bay so he could check on Silver, even though Rookie doesn't know the first thing about Silver, although he did seem like a nice guy, he still wanted to make sure he was alright and as he walked through the hall the med bay's automatic door slid open and Silver stumbled out of it "N- NO! I'M N- NOT GETTING INJECTED WITH ANYTHING L- LIKE THAT!"

Rookie jumped back slightly in shock and he saw that Silver was wincing slightly as he stumbled out of the med bay. Espio then ran out of the med bay "Silver! Calm down!"

Silver winced as he backed away from Espio "No! I'm n- not gonna calm down! She w- wants to inject me with that.. THING!"

Espio sighed "It's just an anesthetic. You have five broken ribs and need to get them fixed."

Silver coughed slightly as he put his hand on his side "I- I don't even know what that i- is!"

Suddenly a tall rabbit dressed in medical scrubs walked out of the med bay and said to Silver "It won't hurt. Come back inside please."

Silver coughed again before finally saying "...F- Fine, just.. D- Don't hurt me."

The tall rabbit nodded before leading Silver back into the med bay. Espio sighed before finally realizing that Rookie was there "O- Oh, Rookie. Didn't see you there."

Rookie stepped forwards "Aren't ninjas supposed to be hyper aware of their surroundings?"

Espio rolled his eyes before glancing into the med bay. After a moment of silently standing there Espio said "Should've known that some one from a destroyed future wouldn't know the first thing about modern medicine."

Rookie nodded "Yeah... Hey, who was that rabbit lady?"

Espio looked back over to Rookie "Her name's Vanilla. She's a single mother and she was brought here by Vector. It was one of the only times he forced Knuckles to give him that mission."

Rookie nodded again "Did.. Her child make it?"

Espio nodded also "Cream was sent to Angle Island, its one of the only areas in the world that Eggman hasn't touched yet. Thanks to Knuckles."

Rookie cocked his head to the side in confusion "Huh?"

"Well.. Knuckles used the power of the Master Emerald to fly the island high up into the air, and he also used it to surround the island in a cloud of electromagnetic energy that messes with any of Eggman's scanners so it seems like that cloud is just a normal cloud."

Rookie nodded yet again before letting out a yawn and saying "I had come down here to check on Silver but I see that he's fine.. Ish.. So, I'm heading back up to the first floor and going to bed."

Espio grinned slightly "You do that."

Rookie nodded slightly before turning around and walking towards the elevator. Once it reached the top floor of the base Rookie walked out of the elevator and began to walk towards the sleeping quarters when suddenly Amy stepped out from inside of the Briefing Room and saying to Rookie "You're gonna want to hear this."

Rookie sighed before he was led into the room, as he did he heard Rouge, who was standing in front of Amy's computer, say "The system is picking up a couple of strange readings. They're coming from the laboratory, the one where Sonic fought Infinite."

Charmy then said "It's probably another of Eggman's robots."

Rouge shook her head "No. Life readings Charmy, two of them. Definitely not robots."

Knuckles just then noticed Rookie "Hey! Rookie! Sorry to spring this on you suddenly but, we need you to head into the Mystic Jungle and check that out."

Rookie sighed as he nodded "You got it."

He then turned around and walked out of the Briefing Room.

###### 6:13 P.M. West Side Island, Mystic Jungle.

Rookie jumped down a cliff and used his grappling hook to swing himself safely onto the ground when Amy then came over Rookie's headset "We've picked up the two life readings near the lab up ahead."

Rookie then ran forwards and into what looked like a mining tunnel that had been dug in the side of a small mountain by Eggman. At the same time Knuckles said "If they aren't robots, what are they?"

Espio then said "If they're enemies, taking them both on might be too big of a task for Rookie."

Rookie shook his head "Nah I got it."

He then silently said to himself "I hope."

And right as he said that he heard the sound of a muffle explosion go off behind him, and when he glanced over his shoulder he saw that the mining tunnel was begging to shake and that its wooden supports were about to give out. He quickly came to the end of the mining tunnel and jumped out of it before the tunnel collapsed in on itself, and as he flew through the air he saw that he was heading straight towards a rushing river, and once he landed in it the current began to drag him down the river, at that same moment Amy said over his headset "Watch out! The current is pretty strong! This place is enough to make anyone dizzy. It might be better to just go with the flow."

Then suddenly the original versions of the Moto Bugs fell into the river and out of the branches of trees that hanged over him. Rookie tired his best to not bump into the Moto Bugs and stay a float in the river when suddenly he saw that there was a fork in the river dead ahead. Rookie quickly used his grappling hook to make himself go down the left path and once his hook let go of the tree it had grabbed onto the river turned sharply to the right and Rookie almost crashed into a Moto Bug, the river then turned sharply to the left and this time he did crash into a Moto Bug which caused him to be bumped away from the robot and the robot itself to be bumped into a jagged rock that stuck out from the river.

Once the robot hit the rock it exploded and Rookie was forced to continue on by the current "Why is this thing so strong!?"

Sadly his question was answered when he saw that he was heading straight towards a waterfall. Rookie quickly jumped out of the river and used his grappling hook to swing himself to the ground in front of him, once he landed on the ground the voice of Amy said "They sure went to a lot of trouble to make this lab hard to find."

An entire hoard of Egg Pawns and Nebulas stood in Rookie's way, he quickly pulled out his Wispon and began to take out the robots, at the same time Knuckles said "They must be doing experiments they don't want people to know about."

Rookie quickly jumped up into the air and dodged one of the Egg Pawn's fire. Once he landed he fired off his Wispon and took out the last robot. He then ran forwards and towards a cliff face, he quickly used his grappling hook to scale the side of the rock formation and reach the ground above him, while he ran forwards robots began to come out of the dense jungle on either side of Rookie, but he had to ignore them at the moment, he was almost to the lab. Rookie quickly reached a steep drop that lead into a canyon, and before he reached the edge of the canyon wall he jumped up into the air and used his grappling hook to fling himself down into the river that rushed through the canyon, while he was yet again swept away by the river's current the voice of Knuckles said "Well look at you. Having fun in the water?"

Amy chuckled slightly "What? Jealous you can't play on the slide. Knuckles?"

The Echidna stammered out "Th- This is no time to lose focus.. That's all! Uh, be sure to give it all you got Rookie."

The red Wolf was about to nod but he was stopped when the river suddenly dipped downwards and began to zig and zag back in forth. He was practically being tossed around in the river while Moto Bugs fell out of holes in the canyon walls and into the river, while he was being tossed around he'd crash into a robot or two and send them flying out of the river due to just how sharp of a turn each bend was, suddenly Rookie reached another sharp turn but he wasn't prepared to turn it so when the current forced him to pass by the bend he tumbled forwards in the water and he was momentary submerged in it.

Due to him being submerged in the water he wasn't able to hear the sound of the waterfall that the river was leading to. So once he reached it he was tossed out of the water fall and he could see that he was falling straight towards another canyon filled with a blazing forest, Rookie quickly thrust his hand out and grappled over to the canyon wall in front of him, the same wall that the lab was on. He grabbed onto the ledge above him and quickly climb up onto the ground over him, as he stood up straight a gust of cold wind blew over Rookie's wet fur which caused him to shiver "S- Stupid w- wet fur."

Even though most of the jungle was on fire the wind in the area was still freezing cold, especially when you're covered in soggy fur, Rookie began to try and dry himself off as best as he could while also looking around the exterior of the lab. Those life signs weren't anywhere to be seen, but something that did catch his eye was the shin of a gemstone sitting in front of the lab's metal door, Rookie walked over to the gem, finally warm enough that he stopped shivering, and picked it up so he could get a good look at it, what he did see was that the gem was almost see through and that if you look into the insides of it the gem looked as if it had a galaxy trapped inside of it.

As he stared at it the gem suddenly began to glow a bright red and it emitted the same sound Infinite made when ever he used energy based attacks. Rookie quickly threw the gem onto the ground, but when he went to turn around he saw that the gem was still in his hand, Rookie tried to pull the gem out of his right hand but it was stuck to him, he tried to throw it to the ground as it continued to emit that sound, but just like last time it wouldn't budge. That's when he realized it wasn't stuck to his hand, it was just stuck to his glove. He quickly peeled off his leather glove and let it fall to the ground, sadly he could still see that the gem was attached to it "Looks like I'm going to have to get a new glove."

Just then the gem's glow began to pulse in tune with a sharp beeping sound, it continued to beep, and beep, and beep, all the while Rookie backed away from it cautiously when suddenly the gem exploded and Rookie raised his hand up to shield his eyes and glasses, he felt a sharp pain enter the middle of his hand which caused him to clench it into a fist and let out a groan of pain. Rookie opened his eyes and looked at the front of his hand, embedded in the center of his hand was a shard of the purple gemstone that had just exploded, and as he looked at it in complete shock and fear it let out that horrible sound one last time before going silent. Rookie tried to pull the gem out of his hand but it was stuck to him, it was attached to him, he clenched his fist again before he saw that his glove was still intact "Until I can figure out what just happened. I gotta hide it."

He then picked up his glove and slipped it over his right hand, once he did he heard the sound of something running towards him, he quickly spun around and saw a smaller, and lighter blue colored, Sonic come to a stop in front of Rookie. Blue motioned at Tails, who was up in the air, to land on the ground. Once Tails landed he inspected Rookie as he said "Have we met before?"

Rookie shook his head "N- No, we haven't met before. But I have heard about you, you're Tails the Fox! Hero of Station Square!"

Blue looked over to Tails "Hero of Station Square?"

Tails shrugged, an embarrassed blush growing on his face "I saved a city when I was younger, it's one of the events that gave me a big boost in confidence."

Rookie nodded "Yeah! And my dad's family is from Station Square so I've heard all about you!"

Blue stared at Rookie "Are you always like this?"

Rookie shook his head "No, I'm only like this because Tails is one of my childhood heroes! You're one of my childhood heroes too Sonic and if we weren't on the Egg Station when I met you I would've reacted this way as well- That reminds me.. What the heck is going on!? Why is there a smaller version of Sonic!?"

Blue grinned slightly "You can call me Blue. And as for why I'm here... I'll let Tails cover that cuz I don't really understand myself."

Tails then said "Well. Blue here comes from an alternate reality where everyone seems to be younger than we are. How he got here, I'm still not sure about that yet."

Rookie let out a slight sigh of relief "That's good."

Tails just then noticed the Wispon lying on the ground "Wait! Is that one of my Wispons!?"

Blue glanced over to his weapon "Y- Yeah?"

Tails smiled as he said "That means you're apart of the Resistance! That means you can take us to Sonic! Our Sonic!"

Just then it all clicked in Rookie's head "You're the life readings I was sent to investigate!"

Blue furrowed his brow as he said "I.. Guess so?"

Rookie quickly ran over to his Wispon and said "Then let's go!"

Blue nodded "Where we going though!"

"The Resistance base in Green Hill City." Tails grew a confused look on his face "I thought that the base was surrounded, that's why I didn't take Blue straight to it." Rookie shook his head as he picked up his Wispon "No, in fact, the robots that surrounded the base have been moved deeper into the city." Tails and Blue then looked at each other before Tails said "Then I guess we're heading back to South Island." the two then turned around and began to walk away from Rookie who then said "Hey, wait! The way to the Resistance transport is this way!" Blue glanced over his shoulder "Me and Tails used the Tornado to get here! You think we swam all the way to West Side?" Rookie wasn't sure how to answer that so instead he followed Tails and Blue as they walked to the original Tornado.

###### 6:23 P.M. South Island, Resistance Base.

Sonic yawned as he rested his head in his hands, wishing to still be asleep as he did. He was asleep just a minute or two ago but he was rudely awoken by Rouge who had told Sonic to go into the Briefing Room, the reason for that, was because Knuckles apparently received a transmission from Rookie who told the Echidna that he had a surprise for Sonic, although the Hedgehog wasn't sure if any surprise was worth keeping him awake after all he's been through. That's when Knuckles suddenly tapped his shoulder "Here they come."

Sonic raised an eyebrow "They?"

When suddenly the room's automatic door slid open and Tails yelled out "SONIC!"

The Hedgehog quickly stood up from the chair he was sitting in "Tails!"

The two then ran towards each other while Blue and Rookie silently entered the room behind them. Sonic and Tails both pulled each other into a large hug, Tails then said "I was sooo worried! I- I- I thought you w- were..."

He felt himself begin to cry as Sonic began to rub the back of Tails' head "You worry too much. Heh. Look, I'm perfectly fine."

Tails nodded as he began to bury his face into Sonic's chest "I- I- I missed you so much.. Y- Your de- disappearance.. Made me lose s- so much h- hope.."

Sonic continued to rub the back of Tails' head "Don't worry. I'm fine, I'm back now, and we're gonna kick Egghead's butt."

Tails nodded again before the two let go of each other and Blue walked over to them. Sonic looked over to Blue "Oh, it's been generations since I've seen you. You okay?"

Blue nodded "Yeah I'm good.. Also.. I have never met you before."

Sonic furrowed his brow in confusion "Huh?"

Tails then stepped forwards "The smaller Sonic, or, Blue. Isn't actually your younger self. He's a younger Sonic from another reality completely."

Sonic nodded "Cool. So Blue, while you were flying through realities did you run into a purple cat by any chance?"

Blue shook his head "Nah. But I did run into a purple Sonic. She was weird."

"Really?"

Blue shook his head again "Nah just messing with you."

Sonic chuckled slightly and Tails spoke up "So, me and Blue have some good news, and bad news."

Sonic looked over to his friend "What's the good news?"

Tails grinned slightly "The good news is that you're safe. The bad news is Eggman said he has some plan that would destroy us all in three days."

Sonic nodded "Three days, huh? Sounds a lot like Neo Metal, besides, a lot can happen in that time!"

Tails nodded when suddenly the monitors on the back wall all began to beep. Knuckles and Amy ran over to the multi monitor wall and Knuckles said "Ha! We've done it! Our spies in the Mystic Jungle have reported that Eggman's robots have retreated from the area! We did it! The Mystic Jungle is the first part of the world to be liberated!"

The room was then filled with yells of celebration and at the same time Sonic then yelled out "I'm really tired! I'm going to bed!"

He then suddenly turned around and walked out of the Briefing Room leaving the others in the room rather shocked. Sonic let out a sigh of relief as he laid down on the top bunk "Good to see you again Tails. Good to see you're safe."

He then raised his hand up and stared at his shoes "Nah.. To tired."

He then laid his head back down and closed his eyes before falling to sleep, meanwhile Rookie took off his glasses and stared at them for a moment "Hey, Amy."

The pink Hedgehog walked over to him "What's up Rookie?"

He showed the cracked lens in his glasses "They got damaged while I was in the Mystic Jungle. Can you fix them for me?"

Amy nodded "I'm on it!"

Rookie then handed her his glasses and she then began to make her way over to a crate so she could get a replacement lens.


	13. Shadow Over the Sunset Heights

### Shadow Over the Sunset Heights

###### November 5th, 7:12 A.M. Resistance Base.

Sonic opened his eyes, yawned, and stretched out his still waking limbs. He grinned slightly while silently thinking to himself "Finally, I've gotten a good, and long, night's sleep."

He then quickly jumped out of bed and landed on the ground safely, and surprisingly quiet, he looked over his shoulder and saw that Rookie was still sleeping on the bottom bunk, he then looked forwards again and saw Newt and Matty were also both still asleep in their beds. Sonic wanted the others to get just as good of a sleep as he had just gotten so he decided that he'd leave them be.

Sonic then walked out of the sleeping quarters and into the hallway where he almost ran into Blue, the two Hedgehogs narrowly avoided colliding with each other before Blue said "You're up early."

Sonic stared down at his inter-dimensional-younger-counterpart and said "You're up too."

Blue shrugged "I haven't been tired since I got to this dimension, and the one time I tired to sleep I could only get a minute or two of sleep."

Sonic nodded "Fair enough."

The two then walked into the Briefing Room where they saw Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, a Silver who's arms, legs, and some of his torso were covered in bandages, as well as Tails all standing around the room's grey table. The two Hedgehogs walked over to the table as Knuckles said "So, Tails. You say that you know where Infinite's power comes from?"

Tails nodded before saying "I do, you see Eggman has somehow gotten his hands on a gemstone called the Phantom Ruby, how he got it, I'm not sure. He might've made it, he might've found it."

Sonic then suddenly spoke up "I knew it! That gem attached to Infinite's chest is his source of power."

Tails nodded "That is indeed his source of power. Sadly, I don't know what it can do."

Knuckles then said "Sonic, you've fought Infinite, so have you Silver, tell us. What did he do?"

Silver was the first one to say "When I fought Infinite he used telekinesis to throw things at me. And then he somehow transported me to some strange world where I was almost killed by giant, grey, Death Egg Robots."

Sonic nodded "Infinite was also able to force me into that world. Although I wasn't almost killed by those things, instead I was almost impaled by spikes that burst out of the ground."

Tails took in the information he had just received and began to spin it into a theory "Hmmm. I think I've come up with something."

Amy looked over to Tails "What is it?" Tails looked over to her "Well.. The Phantom Ruby that Eggman has can either, alter this reality completely. Or it can create a fake reality that gets layered over our own."

Knuckles nodded slowly "And which one is most likely to be the answer?"

Tails sighed "I'm not sure yet. But as of right now it's probably safe to assume that the Phantom Ruby's self generated reality. Is actually a virtual reality."

Knuckles nodded "Alright." and at the same time Rookie walked into the Briefing Room, rubbing sleep out of his eye as he did. Knuckles then said "Alright Tails. Let's move on from the Phantom Ruby and talk about Eggman's plan."

Tails nodded. As Knuckles said _"Phantom Ruby"_ the small shard of purple gem embedded in Rookie's right hand glowed silently through his glove, Rookie quickly pulled his hand away from his face and hid it behind his back, and at the same time Tails nodded before saying "Eggman said when the plan is completed. We'll all be wiped out."

Knuckles nodded "I don't like the sound of that. Normally I'd just laugh at an Eggman plan, but he's already conquered most of the world, so... What's this plan of his?"

Before Tails could say anything the voice of Vector's voice came over Amy's computer "Hey, I hate to butt in on your important meeting, but we're under attack! Shadow is tearing through our troops! We need reinforcements!"

Sonic grumbled "Shadow... The last time I saw him he was fighting for Eggman."

Knuckles looked over to Sonic "That doesn't make sense. Why would Shadow help the enemy of G.U.N?"

Silver finally spoke up "Perhaps he's being controlled by that strange power?"

Sonic then said "Whatever it is, I'll figure it out!"

Knuckles nodded "You got it Sonic, head up into the city and take down Shadow."

Sonic nodded before running out of the Briefing Room and out into the city.

###### 7:15 A.M. Green Hill City.

Sonic ran through the streets of the damaged and burning city. When he passed by a street that overlooked a lower area of the city, at the same moment Vector said over Sonic's earpiece "What the heck!? A whole army of Egg Titans!?"

Charmy then said "Oh no! There are so many of them!"

Knuckles suddenly said "Hurry Sonic! We can keep them in check. But not for long."

Sonic nodded before boosting forwards and down the road that overlooked the lower parts of the city "That'll work! I'll find Shadow and be back in no time!"

He turned a corner and saw that Egg Pawns had all lined up ahead of him. Sonic boosted through the robots and ran up a set of stairs before jumping up into the air and Homing Attacking into Buzz Bombers that hung over his head, he then Stomped onto the ground and boosted forwards again, crashing through some Egg Pawns that stood in his way, Sonic then reached a bridge that had been broken in half and he quickly jumped off of his side of the bridge and landed on the other side, as he flew through the air Knuckles said "This many Egg Titans? Come on, seriously!?"

Once Sonic landed on the other side of the bridge he balled up into his Spin Ball and rolled down the slopped street before standing up and boosting forwards again as Vector said "I'm not one to complain, but that's a lot, right? Way more than we can reasonably take on." Sonic then jumped up into the air at just the right moment so he could Stomp into the center of a small circular park that had a few Egg Pawns in it.

Sonic the boosted forwards and into an apartment district of the city, at the same time Amy said "Listen up! Shadow has been sighted! Apparently he's traveling above the city at high speed!"

Sonic nodded before he continued forwards, boosting still as he did. Sonic then jumped up into the air and scaled up the side of an apartment's wall before climbing up onto the roof and jumping off of it and onto the ground bellow the building, once Sonic landed he boosted forwards and took out a line of Egg Pawns that stood in his way, after he did that he scaled up the side of another building before jumping onto the remains of a highway and boosting forwards, as he did Amy said "The last sighting was just up ahead. Be careful Sonic."

The Hedgehog nodded and jumped off of the highway and back into the apartment district, Sonic continued to run forwards before reaching a gated off community of destroyed apartments, and standing in front of him, arms crossed over his chest, was Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic skid to a halt before walking towards the black and red Hedgehog "All right Shadow! What's the deal?"

Shadow took his arms off of his chest and said "Infinite and Eggman have shown me the way to truly bring peace to the humans Maria loved."

Sonic yelled out "What!? You think that the only way to bring peace to humanity is through Roboticization?! Are you crazy!?"

Shadow scoffed at Sonic "Ha! The fact you don't see it is proof enough that Eggman is right."

Shadow then charged towards Sonic and the blue Hedgehog took an aggressive and defensive stance. Shadow then jumped up into the air and tried to kick Sonic with the bottom of his rocket shoes. But before he could someone yelled out "Chaos Control!"

And time froze all around the two Hedgehogs, a second Shadow jumped out from behind the gated community's gate, he quickly spun around in the air and kicked the second Shadow in his face right as time unfroze, the first Shadow skid across the ground as the second one landed in front of Sonic, which caused him to say "Another Shadow?"

That first Shadow stood up and charged towards the second one but before the fist could attack the second one he ducked underneath the first's punch before jumping up into the air and kicking the first in his face yet again. That kick tore the first Shadow's head off and sent it falling to the ground, grey liquid poured out of the first Shadow's body and disconnected head before the second one said "That was a fake."

Sonic's eyes widened in shock "A fake? How?"

Shadow glanced over to the first Shadow's body before it fell to its knees and then onto the ground "It was a Shadow Android created by Eggman."

Sonic also stared at the Android's body as grey liquid continued to pour out of the top of its body "Why create an Android when Eggman can just have Infinite create a fake himself? Infinite can do that right?"

Shadow nodded as he crossed his arms over his chest "Infinite can create fake clones of anything, or more accurately. Infinite can create virtual reality projections. They have mass and form, but no heart and soul. Why Infinite didn't create a Phantom Clone I don't know."

Sonic nodded "Huh, so Tails was right. The Phantom Ruby does create a reality that layers over our own."

Shadow nodded again "But that isn't the only problem. They may not be real, but their powers are as formidable as the originals. From what I've seen, Infinite can create an unlimited number of them."

Sonic sighed "So fight after fight, he can just keep cranking out counterfeits?"

Shadow nodded again "Exactly. As it stands, there's no way we can win this."

Sonic rolled his eyes "Of course we can win this! We all ways do! We.. Just.. Haven't figured that part out yet."

Shadow sighed before the two Hedgehogs heard the sound of an Egg Titan begin to walk towards them, Shadow quickly grabbed onto Sonic's arm "It's not safe here, we have to go." Sonic tired to say something before Shadow quickly teleported himself and Sonic out of the city.

###### 7:19 A.M. United Federations Main Land, the Ruins of Westopolis.

In a bright flash of blue light Sonic and Shadow both appeared in the ruined Federations city. Shadow let go of Sonic's arm and the blue Hedgehog said "Where are we?"

Shadow then began to walk away from Sonic which only caused Sonic to follow Shadow, the black and red Hedgehog answered with "We're in the ruins of Westopolis."

Sonic looked around the almost flat plains of the demolished city, all that laid around him and Shadow was piles of rubble from destroyed buildings, any cars that were still in the city had been crushed by the rubble off of the buildings, and the only thing left almost intact was the street that Sonic and Shadow walked across. Sonic and Shadow continued to walk through the demolished city when Sonic suddenly said "I just realized. Shadow, you kicked a fake faker in the face."

Shadow sighed, shook his head, and rolled his eyes before another silence fell in between them, Sonic and Shadow passed by a semi-standing wall when Sonic spoke up again "Where are we even going?"

Shadow glanced over his shoulder "Somewhere safe."

Sonic then said "Nowhere's safe. Eggman rules the world."

Shadow looked away from Sonic "He may rule this place, but his army isn't here. So it's safe here."

Sonic glanced around their surroundings before saying "I guess you're right."

Shadow suddenly stopped and turned to his left. Sonic also stopped next to Shadow before the red and black Hedgehog crouched down and pulled open a hatch in the sidewalk. Shadow got onto a a ladder and began to climb down into the underground room, and Sonic followed him, the two got off of the ladder after each other before Shadow began to walk towards a large metal door, once he reached the door he began to input a code into an electronic lock meanwhile Sonic looked around the underground room and saw that they were in what remained of an underground parking garage.

Suddenly the metal door shuddered before sliding open allowing the two Hedgehogs to walk into an unlit room, once they entered it the metal door slid closed behind them and the lights in the once unlit room turned on and almost blinded Sonic, once his vision cleared up he saw that four humans in combat armor had guns pointed at Sonic and Shadow, the lead human said "Entrance code required!"

Shadow then suddenly said "1901"

And after a moment of them not moving, the humans lowered their weapons and the lead one took off a helmet that covered up a large portion of his face. That human was none other than Abraham Tower, the leader of the formerly standing Guardian Units of Nations, Abraham put his gun down and set his helmet down "Sonic, Shadow, it's good to see the two of you are still alright."

Sonic stepped forwards "I can say the same to you Commander. Shadow, what's going on here?"

Shadow looked over to Sonic before saying "This is what's left of G.U.N."

Sonic then took another quick look around the room and saw that it looked like a shabby, hand made, command room that looked similar to the Resistance's Briefing Room. Abraham and the other remaining G.U.N. soldiers began to walk deeper into the room and so did Sonic and Shadow. The two Hedgehogs walked along side each other before Sonic said "What exactly are we doing here?" Shadow looked over to Sonic "We need to lay low for awhile. Eggman will be looking for us after we took out his Android."

Sonic sighed "How long is, awhile? I need to get back to the Resistance soon!"

Shadow nodded "I understand Sonic. But if you go back into the city now you'll, you won't make it past the city's border."

Sonic shook his head "Oh come on Shads! I'm the fastest thing alive! I can not only make it past the border of the city, I also won't be noticed by any of those ro-butts in the city!"

Shadow scoffed at Sonic "I know you're cocky, I know you're stupid, but this is a whole new level for you."

Sonic rolled his eyes before hopping up onto a table and sitting down on it "Fine. We'll lay low for now. But once its clear enough to go back into the city, I'm heading straight into it."

Shadow nodded "Fine."

Sonic nodded, a slightly grin growing over his face.

###### 7:20 A.M. South Island, Green Hill City, Resistance Base.

Rookie stared at his gloved right hand and at the spot where the shard of that gemstone, that he knows is called a Phantom Ruby Prototype. He still hadn't told anyone about it, he didn't know how the others would react to the news, he didn't know what would happen, but the only thing he did know was that he never wanted to try and use the shard, he never wanted to try, he never even wanted to see that shard again either. Suddenly Matty tapped Rookie's shoulder and said "Something wrong?"

Rookie lurched forwards in shock, he buried his hand in his rather long chest fur "U- Uh.. Nothings wrong, technically."

Matty sat down in a chair next to him "Technically?"

Rookie nodded as he took his hand out of his chest fur "I was just.. Thinking about my family."

Matty nodded slowly "Oh.. What were they like?"

Rookie grinned slightly as he began to unbury his childhood memories "Well... My mom grew up in this city, she was a Cat who had purplish red fur.. And my dad was a red Wolf like me who grew up in Central City. He actually moved here to be with my mom after she spent a summer vacation in Central City, a few years later they had a set of triplets."

Matty's eyes widened in shock ever so slightly "Wow, wait, you're a triplet?"

Rookie nodded "Yeah, I'm a triplet. Me, my brother Danny, a blue furred wolf, and my sister Fuchsia. Who's a purplish red cat like my mom."

Matty smiled widely "Cool! Man you're family sounds awesome!"

Rookie chuckled slightly "Yeah. I also have an adopted brother who's a light-ish celadon green bird. He's named Corvin."

Matty's smile grew bigger "You're family just keeps getting cooler and cooler the more I learn about them!"

Rookie laughed slightly before Newt sat down in a chair on the other side of Rookie. The red Wolf looked over to Newt "If you don't mind.. What's your family like?"

Newt readjusted the way she was sitting in the chair so she could look at Rookie properly "My mom and dad were both Bears.. Although my dad's a Polar Bear who has a birth-defect that made his fur very light brown. They both grew up in Holoska, specifically a small fishing village on the eastern coast of the mainland, they've known each other since they were kids. But they didn't become a couple until after my dad broke his leg and spent his days healing in my mom's house."

Rookie grinned "That was a really sweet way of the two getting together.. But.. What about you, when did you come into the picture?"

Newt sighed "You see. I'm not to proud about this but, my mom actually got pregnant with me while my dad was healing his leg at her place. They didn't get married until half a year before I was born... But even though I'm not proud of the fact that they got married after my mom got pregnant, the marriage didn't change their relationship at all. Marriage to their home town was... Optional, in fact most of Holoska practices the same thing, all except for the capital but I've never been there."

Rookie nodded before looking over to Matty "And your family?"

Matty's face lit up before she said "I'd just like to get this out of the way real quick, both of my parents are plain old white Dogs, and they both grew up in Spagonia. Except my dad grew up in the Franc provenances while my mom grew up in the Scotol regions. They actually met up in college, sadly they both had to drop out halfway into their degrees because of economic issues. Luckily they bounced back quick, my dad got a job as a mechanic at an auto-shop near Professor Pickle's college, and my mom got a job at Chiens Cuire Des Choses!"

Rookie's eyes widened in shock "No way really?! The REAL Chiens Cuire Des Choses? Like the best Spagonian restaurant to ever exist?"

Matty nodded confidently "Yep, although you said it wrong but that's fine. Anyways, they got married soon after they bounced back and, of course, they eventually had me."

Rookie chuckled slightly "Looks like all of our families are awesome."

Matty giggled "I guess so."

And Newt nodded "Yeah."

The three of them then just sat there talking to each other, and all of that talking made Rookie realize, Newt and Matty were the only real friends he's made since he was five, and he was able to become friends with them during a war too which made the fact that he was friends with them even better. Eventually Rookie said "How much does anyone know about Sonic's family?"

Both Newt and Matty shrugged, but Matty was the only one to say "I don't think anyone really knows. From what I understand he's kept his private life and hero life separate ever since he caught the attention of the public eye."

Rookie nodded "I'm guessing the same goes for Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and basically all of the other heroes of the planet?"

Newt nodded "Yeah, although Knuckles doesn't have any family. He's the last Echidna alive."

Rookie looked over to their Echidna commander as he inspected the multi-monitor wall "That sucks."

Matty nodded sadly "Yeah, I bet it does."

Rookie felt the area where that Phantom Ruby shard was begin to grow an irritating and itchy sensation before Rookie reluctantly said "Do.. Either of you know what happened to the Chaos Emeralds?"

Newt raised an eyebrow in confusion "What do you mean?"

Rookie shrugged "Like.. Knuckles is connected to them or something, so if he really wanted to end this war quick and easy he'd just have to summon them and go Super, but.. He hasn't."

Matty also shrugged "I don't know.. Maybe they don't work that way, maybe you can't out right summon them. Maybe Knuckles is only connected to them when their in our world and not somewhere else."

Rookie sighed "Yeah.. Maybe."

Honestly he wasn't sure what he was expecting them to say. He had just hoped that he could get his hand on an Emerald and try to use it to remove the shard, but sadly it didn't seem like Knuckles could summon them like Rookie was hoping. Suddenly Matty said "Hey! Do you guys wanna go hang out with the SF?"

Newt and Rookie looked over to Matty and both said in unison "What?"

Matty shrugged "Well they are our friends right? So why can't we hang out with them? We're not on a mission, and we aren't preparing for a mission so we should be fine."

Newt shook her head "You see the thing is, they're called the Special Forces for a reason. They've got to always been prepared for anything, even when the ordinary soldiers, that's us, aren't preparing."

Matty rolled her eyes before standing up "Oh it'll be fine. Besides none of the SF are jerks so they won't kick us out if we try to hang with them."

Rookie sighed as he also stood up "She is right. Even if they are trying to prepare for a secret mission they wouldn't yell at us or anything, they'd just politely tell us to leave."

Newt thought about it for a moment before she finally stood up as well "Alright, let's go."

Matty smiled widely "Yes! Follow me!"

Matty then ran out of the room and the other two followed after her, as they left Knuckles chuckled slightly to himself and said "Kids."

Before returning to inspecting the multi-monitor wall. The elevator reached the third level of the base and the three of them all got off of it and began to make their way to the Special Forces' living quarters, Rookie looked around cautiously "What- What else is down here?"

Matty shrugged "Weapons, explosives, things like that. No big deal."

Rookie looked over to Matty, eyes widened in surprise "No big deal!? You just said this place is housing explosives!"

Matty shook her head "No, I said this FLOOR is housing explosives. Specifically that room."

She pointed to a closed door to Rookie's left as they passed it. Eventually the three reached a door that had a sign sitting over it that read "Special Forces: Special Bunks."

Rookie looked over to the other two kind of confused "Huh?"

Newt chuckled slightly "It was Nicole's idea."

Matty then opened up the door and they walked into the sleeping quarters that was much larger then their own. Sally looked over to the other three in surprise "Oh, didn't know you were coming. What's up?"

Matty stepped forwards "We're just here to hang out."

Sally nodded before she stood up off of her bunk and put the book she was holding down on her bunk "Alright. Nicole, Bunnie, and Antoine are both in the exercise room."

Sally pointed to a door at the end of the room and Rookie said "You've got your own personal exercise room?"

Sally nodded "Yeah, we had to do something with the extra space. And we had some left over exercise equipment meant for Team Dark but.. They- They aren't going to be using it any time soon."

Sally then lead the other three into the exercise room where they were met by the sight of Nicole in a pair of athletic shorts, and an athletic tank top, on a peddling away at an exercise bike. Bunnie was standing in front of the bike and she was holding a stopwatch "Come on darling! You've almost got it!"

Nicole looked like she was going to pass out at any second but she kept up her fast pedaling speed, as for Antoine, he was sitting off to the side just watching the two ladies so he was the first one to see Sally and the other three enter "Ah, Sally, Rookie, Newt, Matty. It is good to be seeing the three of you again."

He stood up and walked over to the four of them, while he did Matty asked "What's Nicole up to?"

Antoine glanced over to Nicole and Bunnie before saying "Nicole wants to up her stamina and Bunnie is helping her achieve zat goal."

Matty nodded before Bunnie suddenly yelled out "Ah know you could do it!"

She practically pulled Nicole off of the bike and into a bear hug while she yelled. Sally chuckled slightly while she walked over to Nicole and Bunnie "Alright you two, calm down."

Bunnie let go of Nicole and the tired Lynx finally got off of the bike properly "Thanks Sally."

The Chipmunk smiled at Nicole "It's fine."

She then turned around and Bunnie said "What's Matty, Rookie, and Newt doing here?"

Sally's smile didn't leave her face as she said "Matty wants to hang out with us. And I think the other two are being dragged along side her."

Newt shrugged "Kind of."

Matty then lightly smacked Newt's arm with the back of her hand in retaliation. Sally looked at her fellow Special Forces agents before saying "So.. They wan't to hang out with us. So why don't we put them through one of our workouts?"

Rookie realized quickly what was going to happen "Oh- Uh- N- No thank you, we're fine."

He tried to back away but Newt quickly stopped him "Don't worry everything's gonna be fine. You're gonna love it, isn't that right Matty?"

Newt looked over to Matty who nodded and said "Sure is."

Rookie sighed and looked over to Matty, who mouthed "Run for it!"

Which only made Rookie more scared of the Special Forces style exercise he was about to be put through, Bunnie smiled "Great! Ah'll get the weights ready!"

That definitely didn't help Rookie's fear either, he watched as Bunnie pulled out a fifty pound weight which only caused Rookie to say "I'm going to die here."

Before Newt forced him and Matty to being heading over to the exercise equipment.


End file.
